Infinite Gambit
by The Infiniator
Summary: The Patriots and Umbrella are working are together. Master Chief crashlands on a 21st century Earth. Leon Kennedy is assigned to investigate a disturbance in Colorado, while Solid Snake uncovers a dark secret.
1. Prologue

**X  
**

**INFINITE GAMBIT**

**By The Infiniator  
**

**Disclaimer: **

I do not own any of the characters portrayed in this story, or anything related to Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and Halo. All rights reserved.

**Author's Note:**

Well, this is it. I'm finally ready to reveal my first story to you guys. I'd like to mention that while the primary story revolves around three main games (Metal Gear Solid, Halo, and Resident Evil), you might notice a few other elements that I threw in from other games. I started the story off the same way _Halo: First Strike_ starts off, but then it eventually makes a transition into my story. I've been working on this for a while now, so I'd like to thank everyone involved. Thanks for the help guys, this would not be possible without you. Well, we'll start things off with the prologue to the story. Enjoy!

* * *

**- PROLOGUE -**

* * *

**2552 A.D.**

**Onboard C-709 Longsword Interceptor**

**Unknown Airspace**

Silence had enveloped the cockpit of the ship now orbiting the gas giant known only as "Threshold". The cockpit consisted of two seats facing the bow of the vessel, which were situated at the front of the ship. Resting on the left-side seat was a MA5B assault rifle with barely half a clip inside. However, on the right-side seat sat a seven foot tall armored man. Spartan-117 the Master Chief now rested peacefully, his head resting against the side of the seat. Suddenly, a harsh siren broke the silence. On instinct, Master Chief awoke, and reached for his weapon. After shaking off the drowsiness, the Chief lowered his weapon.

"Cortana," stated the Chief, looking around.

On his right armrest appeared a small hologram in the form of a woman.

"Chief, we've got a problem," she said.

"What happened?" asked the Chief now looking out the window.

"Take a look at this," she replied, motioning towards the ship's console.

A map appeared in front of him, displaying their current location. The Chief noticed that their ship, represented by a green triangular shape, was about to be overtaken by another vessel.

"Survivors?" inquired the Chief.

Cortana's body dissolved from the armrest, and reappeared up on the console.

The Chief remembered the three hour search he had conducted after escaping Halo, which proved to be in vain. It had been nearly two days since Halo's destruction, and Master Chief had not seen a single human being since. The possibility that there might still be someone alive out there heightened his spirits.

"Oh yeah, survivors. Just not the ones we were expecting," responded Cortana, a hint of nervousness in her tone.

"My sensors indicate that it's a Covenant flagship, badly damaged, and…what's this?"

Master Chief looked at her sharply.

"What?" he asked.

"The ship is under attack!" exclaimed Cortana.

The Chief's heart did a summersault as he stood up.

"Could anymore Marines have escaped Halo? Maybe we missed some during our sear-," but Cortana cut him off, her voice sounding mortified.

"It's not Marines," she spoke dryly. "I managed to access the Covenant battle network," her eyes now staring at the Chief's visor. "It's the Flood."

Fear enveloped Master Chief as he sank back into his chair after hearing the shocking news. Images of the Flood came rushing back into his head. During his first encounter with the Flood, Master Chief had never felt so scared in his entire life. The Flood were the only thing that the Covenant feared, and not without reason. The very creation of the Halo installation was to harbor the Flood, and keep them from ever escaping. The thought of those horrific monstrosities out in the open frightened the Chief. He had fought many battles throughout his lifetime, but never had he faced such terror. His encounter with them on Halo would have left any other man traumatized for life.

_And I thought I had left that nightmare behind after I destroyed Halo. _

"Chief, we have to destroy that ship. We cannot allow the Flood to reach anywhere where intelligent life might exist," remarked Cortana, waking the Chief from his reverie.

Dismay surged through the Chief's body at hearing Cortana's notion. To have to fight those things again…the Chief could not bare the thought. But Cortana was right. If the Flood somehow managed to reach intelligent life, they would spread like a disease, and then...nothing would stop them. The Chief simply nodded his head and said, "I know."

Master Chief switched off the auto-pilot and took control of the ship as Cortana layed out their course of action.

"Apparently the Covenant have been able to restrict the Flood to the lower levels of the ship. We have to somehow get aboard and cause some sort of internal explosion" instructed Cortana.

Master Chief was already turning the fighter around back towards the Covenant ship. Not surprisingly, the Longsword was not fired upon.

_They've got enough on their hands._

The Chief maneuvered the craft to the stern of the massive ship. As they passed it, Master Chief noticed that its outer hull was badly scarred and damaged. It reminded him of his own MJOLNIR battle armor and how it had endured brutal attacks while on Halo. He guided the ship to the stern of the flagship, where its hangar bay was situated.

"Wait! Chief!" exclaimed Cortana.

But it was too late. The rear of the flagship started angling upwards, as if an invisible string had wrapped around it, and was now pulling it up. Master Chief tried to drive the craft away from the colossal cruiser, but it was too late. His Longsword fighter was now also caught up in the mysterious pull. Suddenly, the ship began to vibrate violently, and the Chief was thrown from his seat, and he landed on the floor hard on his belly. As he attempted to push himself up, an extreme amount of weight landed on his back, and he was forced back to the ground.

"Cortana! What the hell's going on?" the Chief yelled, as the rumbling of the ship grew louder.

Yelling at the top of her voice, Cortana replied, "It's the slipspace drive! It must have been damaged while the Covenant were trying to hold off the Flood! A portal opened prematurely, and we're being pulled in horizontally! I can't take control of the ship! Chief you've got to-

But it was too late. The massive gravity increase caused by the portal had the Master Chief pinned down. The last thing he remembered before passing out was that he thought the weight was going to push him right through the Longsword's hull, and into deep space.


	2. Chapter 1

**X  
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**- CHAPTER 1 -**

* * *

**2010 A.D.**

**Virginia Coastline**

The yacht that rocked back and forth in the murky ocean water had the name _Otaku _painted on its side. It was currently anchored 11 miles off the coast of Virginia, and the city was barely visible. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the sun was casting glares off of the ship's windows. On the top deck sat a scrawny man on a laptop. He was typing with one hand, using the other one to adjust his glasses, a look of seriousness on his face.

Below him in the cabin, sat another man in boxers polishing a SOCOM semi-automatic pistol. On the television screen was a CNN reporter talking about an elementary school bombing in Atlanta.

Ex-FOXHOUND member Solid Snake stood up and placed the weapon in its holster. Then he threw himself back onto the bed and listened to the reporter. He was in a pretty decent mood after last night's operation, though it had left him exhausted. He heard footsteps approaching, and the door slid opened. His partner and long-time friend Hal Emmerich stood in the doorway.

"Snake, I think you might wanna see this," he said, squinting.

"Anything new, Otacon?" asked Snake, getting up from the bed.

_Otacon_ was Hal's alias, as _Snake_ was his.

"I think I might have found us a new lead," he replied.

Snake knew what he meant and followed Otacon back to his computer. Otacon sat down and began.

"Do you remember the Umbrella Corporation?" he asked.

Snake did not even have to think about it.

"You mean those bastards responsible for the Raccoon City catastrophe? How could I forget?"

The Umbrella Corporation had been the leading pharmaceutical company in the country for nearly a decade. It had been recognized all over the globe as one of the driving forces towards economic superiority. However, Umbrella had its own agenda. While maintaining its public face as a cosmetics producer, Umbrella was actually involved in genetic engineering and bioweaponry. Not only that but it was also a major international player in a number of markets including pharmaceuticals, medical hardware, defense, and computers. They were even the parent company of their very own private military company. But about twelve years ago, there was an outbreak involving one of their products in a small mountain town in the mid-west, and the government was forced to sterilize the city with a surface-to-air nuclear warhead. After that, the U.S. Government suspended Umbrella's market trading rights in the United States. Their "business practices" were eventually discovered, and after losing its shares, went bankrupt.

"Well, I was digging around through the data you recovered last night and for some reason Umbrella kept popping up. It turns out that Umbrella has been doing pretty good for itself lately," he explained.

"And why is that important?" Snake asked.

"I asked that exact same question," stated Otacon, opening a new file. "I didn't think it was that important until I found this."

Snake bent down to read the file. His eyes widened as he finally realized Otacon's news.

"Apparently the U.S. Government has been backing all of Umbrella's latest movements. And when I say the U.S. Government, I mean-," but Snake cut him off.

"The Patriots," muttered Snake.

"Exactly," replied Otacon.

Against all the principles of the founding fathers, the Patriots were the true rulers of the United States. Only a handful of people were even aware of their existence. They were the sole authority in the U.S. and the President answered directly to them. The government was a lie. It was only a puppet, and the Patriots were the puppet masters.

Snake began to think to himself as Otacon continued.

"If the Patriots are interested in Umbrella's success, then that must mean that they're planning something big," Otacon stated.

The same idea had been running through Snake's head. He and Otacon were members of an organization known as Philanthropy. Philanthropy was an anti-proliferation organization whose goal was to stop the spreading of nuclear weaponry into other nations. Snake and Otacon were vital to Philanthropy's success, and stopping the Patriots was their highest priority.

"But what would the Patriots want with Umbrella?" asked Snake.

"I have no clue, Snake, but it's the only lead we have," responded Otacon.

"You really believe this is something to look into?" asked Snake.

"Absolutely," responded Otacon.

"I just wanted to hear you say it. Alright then, what do you have in mind?"

Otacon brought up a building schematic on the screen.

"This," he began, pointing at the screen, "is Umbrella's last corporate headquarters, Vertigo Plaza, in New York City. Whatever these guys are up to is bound to be stored in there somewhere."

Snake agreed, as he began to see Otacon's plan unfold.

"How fast can you get us to New York?" asked Snake.

Otacon adjusted his glasses. "I've already got us a jet waiting."

Snake smiled. "Good old Otacon. Always thinking ahead."


	3. Chapter 2

**X**

**- CHAPTER 2 -  
**

* * *

**Colorado Rockies**

**Near Mount Elbert**

The sun was setting on the snow filled forest, and eventually the only light came from a newly lit campfire. Around the fire sat three men engaged in conversation. They had been in this forest almost two days now, and were seemingly discouraged by the fact that they wolud be spending another night in the freezing woods. As the three of them spoke, they broke sticks and added them to the flame. For a moment they were silent, until one started speaking again.

"Let's face it Alan, we're lost," remarked the blonde haired Wesley Lambert.

"We're not lost Wesley, just sidetracked," replied the dark haired Alan Dunaway.

"We've been walking around here for two days now, and the most action we've seen was a deer jumping over a log," said Wesley looking angry now.

"Well I told you this wasn't going to be anything like Astigos, and you said it didn't matter," was Alan's reply.

"Yeah, but that was when I thought we were actually going to DO something, not walk around in this creepy ass forest freezing my ass off!"

Alan and Wesley were both partners and agents of a covert organization called VSSE. They had joined VSSE at the same time, and became natural partners ever since. Their last major assignment had taken place on an island in the Mediterranean called Astigos. Alan and Wesley had helped to liberate the island from the Zagorias Federation, who had overrun the peaceful community. Wesley had gotten used to the tropical climate, so the cold weather here was aggravating him.

"We're getting closer. I'm sure we'll be there by tomorrow," assured Alan.

Alan turned towards the third man who was wearing a brown leather jacket. He had been staring at the fire for a long time now, and it was making Alan nervous.

"Hey, Leon, you ok?" inquired Alan.

Leon Scott Kennedy looked up from the fire and gave him a slight smile.

"Just thinking, that's all," said Leon, tossing his few remaining sticks into the fire.

And thinking he was. Leon was an agent for the U.S Government, and his newest mission had made him nervous. Five days ago, there were reports of a meteorite crash-landing in the Rocky Mountains. A team of NASA scientists was sent to recover a sample of the rock and bring it back for study. However, the group never made it back. NASA received one final message in which the group seemed to be under attack.

After that, Leon, along with Alan and Wesley, were sent to find out what had occurred. They arrived in the small town of Leadville two days ago, and had learned that after the crash, all the lodges in the area had been evacuated. Before heading out to Colorado, Leon had done research on Leadville and the surrounding area. He had been relieved to know that there had been few deaths in the forest, all due to animal attacks. He hated being in secluded places like this, far away from other people. But this time he wasn't alone. Alan and Wesley were here with him, and judging by their past history, he felt a little safer.

"Well, I'm going to bed. Gotta rest up for another day of walking around aimlessly," said Wesley sarcastically.

"Please do," answered Alan as Wesley got up and entered his tent.

"You're not gonna eat?" asked Leon.

"In the morning. All this walking around does is gets you tired," came the response from the tent.

Leon opened his bag and pulled out two Slim Jims. He tossed one over to Alan, who gratefully accepted it. Leon tore the wrapper off and held the tip of the beef jerky over the fire, letting the flames lick the meat. He noticed Alan doing the same.

"So, what does VSSE stand for anyways?" Leon asked, taking a bite out of the beef jerky.

Night had completely enveloped the dense forest, and only the camp was illuminated.

"Vital Situation, Swift Elimination," was the reply.

"I had never heard of you guys when they first assigned me to this mission," stated Leon.

"Most people haven't. Did you know that around 90 percent of the world doesn't even know that the NSA exists?" Alan was halfway through his Slim Jim.

"Did you look that up in a book or something?" asked Leon, smiling.

"Nope, but good guess though," stated Alan.

Leon picked up his backpack and placed the two grenades he had on his belt inside.

"You really think we're gonna need those?" inquired Alan.

"No, but then again, it's better to have something and not need it then to need something and not have it," proclaimed Leon.

"You got that from a movie," stated Alan.

"Nope, but good guess though," said Leon.

They both laughed before Leon announced that he was going to bed.

"Hopefully tomorrow we'll find that crash sight," remarked Alan.

"Yeah, hopefully. See you in the morning," he bid his farewell then entered the small tent.

For the next hour and a half, Leon could not fall asleep. He had a bad feeling about this operation. Although there had been no reason to think so, Leon could not shake this feeling of nervousness that had overcome him. It was not the cold. Leon had survived in temperatures far worse than this. No, this was something else.

Six years ago, he would not have been so cautious. His encounter with the Los Illuminados terrorist cult had changed his life. Although he had survived the T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City, and had managed to escape alive, the horrors he had faced on his quest to rescue the President's daughter had left Leon scarred. He had been confronted by his past many times in Spain, and each time he had prevailed. With a little help from the mysterious Ada Wong, Leon was able to bring down the Los Illuminados leader, Osmund Saddler. Saddler had obtained a breed of parasitic organisms called Las Plagas, which he used to infect and control the village folk of the nearby town. Then, he had captured the President's daughter, and was planning on injecting her with the Las Plagas parasite, and sending her back home with the hopes of causing a massive outbreak. However, Leon had survived all odds, and defeated Saddler and his cult. Although Ada had escaped with the master Plagas sample, Leon was able to return the President's daughter to safety.

But Leon knew that somewhere out there the Las Plagas still existed. Ada had been working for Albert Wesker, a former Umbrella Corporation researcher. Wesker had sent Ada to retrieve the Plagas sample in an effort to revive Umbrella under his leadership. Leon knew that his past would confront him again someday.

Despite his current state, the day's events had left him exhausted, and he finally managed to fall asleep.


	4. Chapter 3

**X  
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**- CHAPTER 3 -**

* * *

**Vertigo Plaza**

**Umbrella Headquarters**

**New York City**

Solid Snake could not help but to marvel at the architectural beauty of Vertigo Plaza. The building complex consisted of four 80 story buildings, each located in four different positions: northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. The skyscrapers were connected via four connecting bridges located on the 43rd floor of each building. The complex resembled the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, only with two more buildings and two more connecting bridges. And unlike the Petronas Towers, which had pointed rooftops, the Vertigo Plaza buildings had flat rooftops. While other skyscrapers around the world were certainly much taller, Vertigo Plaza was undoubtedly the most sophisticated. And although Snake was impressed with the plaza's structure, he told himself that it would be all that much harder to get in.

Snake had been standing across the street in an alley watching the gate guard closely. Keeping to the shadows, Snake ducked behind a trash can as a taxi cab passed by. He glanced at his watch, which read 9:43 p.m.

_Shift change should be any minute now_, thought Snake to himself.

From behind the garbage can, Snake began to study the building's main entrance. He recognized the layout from the blueprints Otacon had shown him earlier that day. The main entrance to the compound was through the south gate across the street. There were three other gates open during the day, but they were locked at night, and entrance at night was limited to the main gate. Once through the gate, you could enter the underground multi-story parking garage through any of three entrances situated at the base of the complex. The area below the buildings and behind the gate was decorated with beautiful flower beds that hugged the complex's perimeter gate. A marble fountain sat in the middle, with a statue of the Goddess Artemis in the center. Snake breathed heavily, and watched the smoke protrude from his mouth. It had only just begun to snow, but already the white rain had covered much of the street.

A voice in Snake's ear called his name.

"Snake, get ready. The guards should be changing shifts any second now," remarked Otacon's voice through Snake's codec.

Right on schedule, Snake observed a second man approaching the gatehouse.

"Ok, here goes. I'll contact you once I'm inside," said Snake.

Snake activated the stealth camouflage unit on his belt and sprinted across the street. It took him a moment to take in his surroundings. The gate guard was handing over his keys to his relief. Two armored security cameras monitored the gate, as well as a third inside the guardhouse. As soon as he hit the curb, Snake leapt up onto the guardhouse, landed, then jumped over the perimeter fence. He landed in a crouch, right next to the off-duty guard. The guard glanced over in Snake's direction, looked around, then shrugged and made his way towards one of the buildings. Once he was out of earshot, Snake contacted Otacon.

"Ok, I'm through the gate," he informed his partner.

"Right, so far so good," came Otacon's reply. "Now make your way down to the nearest car park entrance. From there you can access the foyer elevator."

Snake took a moment to track down the nearest car park entrance.

"Got it. Anything else?

Otacon responded. "Yeah, there are motion sensors all over this area. However, you should be fine when you reach the garage since there aren't any in there."

Snake spotted the off-duty guard entering the southwest building.

"How come he didn't set off the motion sensors?" asked Snake.

"The guards here must being wearing a sensor that allows them to walk freely through the motion detectors," explained Otacon.

"That piece of information could have come in handy about a minute ago don't you think? I could have stuck close to him and had a straight shot at the lobby floor."

Actually, that wouldn't have been such a good idea," replied Otacon.

"Why not?" challenged Snake, slowly making his way through the open area. He had been using a pair of EMP goggles that Otacon had supplied to locate all the motion detectors.

"Because the lobby entrances have thermal security cameras monitoring anyone who enters or exits one of the buildings. If you would have entered behind that guard, whoever is upstairs monitoring those thermal cameras would have seen the guard enter, followed by a mysterious crouch-walking figure behind him. He would have set off every alarm in the entire place, which would then cause the lobby elevators to deactivate, trapping you in the lobby."

Snake had reached the car park. "Yeah, but at least I'd be invisible." Snake heard Otacon chuckle.

Snake ran the length of the car park, where he hid behind a truck. He scanned the area and spotted two security guards inside another guardhouse having a conversation. Snake noticed one was smoking a cigarette, which caused him to crave one himself.

He glanced towards the truck he was hiding behind and spotted something he had not seen before.

"Otacon, I don't think anyone knows that this place is owned by Umbrella," said Snake.

"Why not?" was Otacon's reply.

"Because all the trucks in here have an OmniCorp logo painted on them," explained Snake, as he crawled under the truck. "What the hell is OmniCorp?"

"Must be Umbrella's cover, at least until they're back on top," guessed Otacon.

"Yeah, but OmniCorp? I could have come up with a better name than that."

Otacon laughed. "I'm sure you could have Snake."

Snake rolled out from the other side of the truck, crawled over to the elevator, and pressed the call button. He remained on his belly while he waited for the elevator. He had four cars blocking him from the guards' sight, so they wouldn't be able to notice him. A few seconds passed by, as Snake patiently awaited the descending elevator. He heard the muffled voices of the guards over in their booth. Finally, there was a 'ding' and the elevator door opened. Snake crawled inside, and turned on his back as the doors shut again. He did three crunches, stood up and prepared to activate his stealth camo again. As soon as the doors swung open, he pressed the button on his belt, and crouch walked into the interior of the lobby. The first thing Snake realized was that the floor was made of marble, so he'd have to walk slow. He counted two guards in the lobby, one behind the information kiosk, and another patrolling the area. Moonlight poured in through the glass entrance doors, and through the skylight of the cavernous roof. Snake noticed that there were a few pillars in the room as well and slowly made his way to one of them.

"Otacon, I'm in the lobby, now what?" asked Snake, putting his back against the marble column.

"Look for the security sub-station. It should be in the northwest corner of the lobby," said Otacon.

Snake poked his head out and surveyed the lobby. He spotted a large glass window, and on the other side was a room filled with monitors and a computer mainframe.

"Ok, I see it," declared Snake."

"You've got to get in there and find the elevator access terminal. From there you should be able to switch on the office elevators," explained Otacon.

Snake took one last look at the patrolling guard, and then slipped out towards the security room. Although he had on his stealth camo, he never trusted the damn thing. He always had this feeling like it was gonna shut off on him at the worse possible moment. With that mentality, he always underwent his stealth operations as if he didn't have it at all. He stopped by the security room door, reached for the knob, then stopped when he heard footsteps on the other side. He took a quick step back, and just in time too. The door swung open and a third guard walked out.

_Invisible or not, I would have smashed right into that guy. _

He waited for the guard to get a little bit further before he shut the door. In the center of the room there was a table with a hologram of the entire Vertigo Plaza complex, a little taller than Snake. He had seen something similar to this before in an office on Shadow Moses, projecting the image of the two communications towers located there. He quickly found the elevator access terminal, and deactivated the after hours security lock on the elevators. With that he made his way back out, and towards the office elevators, located behind the information kiosk. He made sure no one was around before pressing the call button. He entered the car when it arrived.

"Otacon, elevators are online, and I'm heading up," announced Snake.

"Executive offices are on the 74th floor, head there," said Otacon.

Snake pressed the button, and he felt the car begin to ascend.

"Snake, about what you were talking about earlier, how about "Otacorp?"

Snake smiled. "You know, that doesn't sound half bad."


	5. Chapter 4

**X  
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**- CHAPTER 4 -  
**

* * *

**San Isabel National Forest**

**Colorado**

The weather in the Rockies had not improved since the day before, and this did not bode well for the trio that now trekked through the San Isabel Forest. They had woken up a little after seven in the morning, and had been traveling for almost five hours, crossing into the forest border about twenty minutes earlier. Leon's legs were beginning to get numb, and he noticed that Alan and Wesley weren't in the brightest of moods themselves.

"Guys, lets make camp here," he announced.

"Damn, just when my face was about to freeze," remarked Wesley.

"Spread out and find some firewood guys," commanded Leon, ignoring the comment.

The three spread out and began their search. As Leon picked up his first piece, he noticed that Turquoise Lake was within his sights. Although not the best time to be admiring nature, Leon couldn't help himself. The sun was hitting it at such an angle, it looked as if the entire lake was on fire. He then turned to face Mount Elbert, the behemoth mountain whose peak was the highest point in the state of Colorado. He had read about both of these back in Leadville, but they had not really caught his attention then. But now, standing at the base of the mountain, Leon felt suddenly at peace.

This lasted only for a moment however, as a rustle to Leon's left caused him to jump. He scanned his immediate radius, but could not spot anything. Leon was beginning to get that feeling that he always felt right before something bad happened, and he knew that where he was right now was probably not the safest place to be. He picked up another piece of log, then headed back to the camp at a quickened pace. All morning he'd had this bad vibe, and couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched. Since they had woken up, and even the day before, he kept glancing to the side whenever he thought he saw something, and even though he could have sworn there had been something there, it was always a false alarm. Leon could already hear Wesley and Alan's voices, when he saw something that confirmed his fears. Arriving at the camp, he threw his logs in a pile where the others had put theirs. He waited for a moment to calm down, trying not to show that he was alarmed, before acting.

"Hey, did either of you go searching for wood in the direction I just came from?" he asked.

Alan looked at Leon for a moment before responding.

"Nope, I didn't have to. I found all of mine in a pile over there," replied Alan pointing to a nearby tree.

Leon looked over at Wesley, who shook his head.

"Why do you ask?" inquired Wesley, setting up the wood.

"Cause I only found these two pieces. I thought you guys might have been gathering some near me," responded Leon.

No one spoke for the next five minutes, as they set up the camp. When they were finally done, Leon smiled to himself.

"Wait, don't light it yet," said Leon walking over to another log. "It still needs a few more."

"What the hell are you talking about, it's fine," remarked Wesley.

"No, here take this one," answered Leon, picking up the log.

As he moved to toss it, Leon glanced to his left. Without warning, he turned quickly towards the spot he had just looked at, arched his arm back, and hurled the log full force. At first it seemed that it would just fly and then land in the snow. But then, as it was in mid-flight, the log struck something. To the untrained eye, it would have looked like it struck nothing, because that's what was there, nothing. Then there was a grunt, and Leon noticed the snow had changed, as if something had landed in it. As Leon approached the area, a flash of light left him momentarily blinded. Leon had to shield has eyes, as sparks of electricity emanated from the seemingly empty space. Leon heard Alan gasp as he too had noticed what happened. There, lying in the snow was a masked figure, dressed in a black sneaking suit. Leon extracted his Blacktail handgun from it's holster on his right leg. Keeping the weapon trained on the stranger, Leon began to approach him. He hadn't even taken two steps, when Wesley's voice cut into his ears.

"Leon, behind you!"

Whirling around, Leon saw footprints in the snow making a trail directly towards him. When the tracks were about four feet away, Leon ducked, ramming his right shoulder towards the oncoming assailant. He felt his shoulder make contact with what felt like abdomen, followed by another grunt. The second attacker's camouflage wore off the same way the first one did. His attackers resembled ninjas, complete with katanas on their backs. The only difference was the red goggles they were wearing, and all the equipment attached to their suits.

The one Leon had just taken down jumped up quickly, pulling out his sword. He made a horizontal slice at Leon's head, but Leon was too quick and ducked just in time. With his back to the attacker, he shoved his elbow into the man's back, causing him to stagger forward. Alan and Wesley had already drawn their weapons as well, and fired upon their enemy as they ran towards him. The attacker deflected the bullets with his sword, then jumped into the air at an inhuman height. He landed on the branch of a nearby tree, and pulled out another weapon, which resembled a P-90 submachine gun, only smaller. He aimed the gun at Wesley and Alan, forcing them dive out of the way just in time. Leon found his own cover behind a tree, stuck his head out to locate his enemy, then fired upon him. The unknown attacker jumped to another tree branch, firing at Leon in mid-air. Leon ducked behind the tree, hearing the bark being eaten up with gunfire.

Their enemy, whoever he was, was good. Too good in fact. He moved with superb reflexes, and countered all their gunfire. _This is insane!_, thought Leon as he smashed a fresh clip into his weapon. The last enemy that outmatched Leon in speed was his old friend Jack Krauser, and even then, Jack was nowhere near as fast as this new enemy. He heard gunfire again, but it wasn't directed at him

Turning to his left, Leon spotted Wesley and Alan spreading out. _Of course! They're surrounding him. _Alan caught his look and motioned for him to move out. _He won't be able to concentrate on one of us without leaving himself open._ Nodding in acknowledgement, Leon ran out attempting to draw the enemy's fire, who now had Wesley pinned down behind a tree. Leon fired wildly in the ninja's direction as he ran towards another tree. Without even looking at him, the ninja back flipped into the air.

"Flash, look away!" yelled Wesley.

The ninja pulled out a small object from his waist pocket, and hurled it straight down into the ground. Although Leon was able to turn his head away, the flash still managed to dumbfound him for a moment. Leon remained perfectly still, the only sound was that of gunfire. After his eyesight returned, Leon quickly gathered his surroundings. The ninja was moving in on Alan, who looked like the flash grenade had gotten the most of him. From behind him, Wesley unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the assailant's back, causing him to leap upwards. He landed behind Alan, and was about to turn around and put an end to him, when at the last possible second, Alan dove to his left and let out one shot, which caught the man on his side. Alan quickly recovered, took advantage of the situation, and tackled the ninja, causing him to drop his sword. Leon glimpsed Wesley rushing towards the action, and was about to do the same when an idea hit him.

Alan had managed to wrestle the gun from the attacker's hand and had him pinned down for about five seconds before the ninja kicked out, striking Alan in his chest. Wesley, who was approaching from the rear fired off one last round before having to reload. The ninja rolled to the side, dodged the bullet, jumped up, and delivered a roundhouse kick towards Wesley's head. Wesley countered it, and delivered his own dropkick right into the face of the attacker. But this one wasn't going down without a fight. He recovered fast enough to dodge Wesley's follow-up attack, knocking him to the ground. The ninja scooped up his sword, and was about to put it through Wesley, when Leon leapt into the air wielding a flash grenade from the other ninja's belt. With all his might, he thrust it right into the ninja's face. Leon landed on Alan, and covered him from the blast. The ninja was completely caught off guard, as the explosive detonated inches from his face, launching him backwards into the snow. Alan, now fully recovered, lifted himself up off of his back into a sitting position, and fired four times into the man's chest. And then it was over.

Immediately, Leon pulled out his radio.

"Hunnigan it's Leon, do you copy?" he spoke into the radio. " I repeat, it's Leon. We've just been attacked by an unknown assassin. We're in need of assistance."

But there was no reply. Leon continued to try and make contact, but it proved useless. All he heard was static._ It's happening again, just like last time._

Breathing heavily, Leon asked the others if they were okay.

Wesley smiled and gave a thumbs up. "I'm fine, just a little edgy," he said casually.

"Yeah I'll be alright," answered Alan standing up. "You?"

"I'm okay," replied Leon wiping the snow off of his body. "But I can't reach HQ."

Wesley tried his, but he too could not get through to anyone. "You think we're being jammed?" asked Wesley.

Alan looked over at the body of the dead ninja. "After what just happened, I'm willing to believe anything right now," he said.

Wesley turned to Leon and said, "He almost had me there for a moment, at least until you beamed him with that flash. Thanks man,"

"No problem," acknowledged Leon.

For a few moments no one spoke as they tried to gather their bearings. Then they all turned to look at the corpse of their earlier attacker. Leon walked over and pulled off the man's mask. Leon cringed. The eyes were still open, and the skin was already beginning to turn pale.

"How long do you think they'd been following us?" asked Wesley when they returned to the camp.

"We can't really be sure, but my guess is since early yesterday," replied Leon.

The thought that they had been under surveillance even as they slept frightened Alan.

Alan gestured towards the one Leon had hit with the log. "Is he gonna be getting up soon?"

Leon shook his head disappointedly. "No, I hit him too damn hard. It's a shame too. I would have really liked to found out what the hell is going on," stated Leon.

They spent the next hour eating, resting, and burying the bodies. When the work was done the three of them gathered their equipment.

"We need to be on our guard from now on," announced Leon as they prepared to continue." Whatever it is we're looking for, these guys must want it and that's probably why they were following us. This isn't a simple investigation anymore. There's definitely something big going on out here, and it's our job to find out what."

Alan and Wesley nodded in unison.

"I'll take point, and you two can cover from the rear. We should try to travel in formation from now on," stated Alan.

"Right, let's move out then," replied Leon.

Alan looked over at Wesley. "Enough excitement for you yet?" he asked.

Wesley smiled. "You know me, never satisfied with what's served. But then again, I'd be willing to bet we're in for a hell of ride."

A hell of a ride in deed. One that Leon was all too familiar with.


	6. Chapter 5

**X  
**

**- CHAPTER 5 -  
**

* * *

**Vertigo Plaza**

**Executive Office Level**

**New York City**

The corridor was brightly illuminated by the moonlight that shone in through the long window that followed it across. Walking past was a security officer, one of four assigned to this floor of the executive level of the northwest skyscraper. He stopped halfway down the hallway, and looked out the window towards the city below him. He spotted the Verrazano Bridge and noticed the red warning lights that sat at it's top. He glanced down at his watch, which read 10:20 p.m. He still had less than four hours left before he could go home, and was desperate for a cigarette. A voice from the radio on his shoulder broke the silence.

"Hey Jacob, see something you like?"

Jacob the night guard turned around and looked at the lone security camera which had been staring back at him.

"Just enjoying the view, Sam. You know how boring it can get patrolling these halls," replied Jacob turning back to face the city.

"I heard that," responded Sam, over the radio. "Just checkin' in on ya, making sure you were okay. For a moment there I though you were gonna collapse."

Sam wasn't too far off either. Jacob was extremely exhausted, and his job only added to this.

"I'll be okay, Sam. I'm just a little tired," explained Jacob. "I'm gonna check out processing, then I'm heading over to the cafeteria. You want anything?"

"No thanks. I've got a cappuccino here. That should keep me up for a few hours," stated Sam, chuckling.

"Alright, see ya in a few." Jacob waved his hand at the camera, took one last look at the city, and said, "I'm getting too old for this job." And with that Jacob continued down the hallway, towards the stairwell. He wasn't even aware that less than ten feet away, Solid Snake had been crouching in camouflage.

"You're not the only one," said Snake after Jacob had left. He had been sneaking in and out of offices for the last 15 minutes, installing certain 'precautions,' as Otacon called them, so that no one could trace them when they found the main server. Since the executive level consisted of seven floors (74-80), it had taken awhile. Luckily for Snake, the computers that needed worms installed were only on the 74th floor, and Snake had just planted the last one in an office full of cubicles. He had exited into the hallway, where he waited for Jacob the night guard to depart before he made his next move.

"Make a right at the intersection, and look for the janitor's closet," directed Otacon as Snake began moving once again.

Snake followed the hallway down, made a right, paused as a security guard crossed into an office, found the door marked 'Janitor', and entered.

"Okay, you should be able to fit inside the air duct. Follow the ventilation shaft straight down until it meets with the executive level security room. From there you can get access to the exterior of the building. Contact me when you're there."

Snake switched off his codec, and then his stealth camo, pulled off the air duct covering, and peered inside.

"This never seems to get old," he said to himself.

"Hey, be grateful there aren't any rats, Snake," Otacon chimed in.

Snake smiled, and entered the ventilation shaft. He followed Otacon's instructions, and used his elbows to crawl through the small tunnel. After about a minute or so, he spotted another air duct covering. Moving his head up close, he made sure the room was empty before he exited. When he was sure the room was clear, he quickly slipped out and replaced the covering. He was in a security room identical to the one down in the lobby. He approached a door marked 'balcony', and went through.

Snake slowly walked out onto the balcony, and closed the door as a gust of wind hit him in the face. It was still snowing outside, and on top of that, the sky was cloudless, and the moon was illuminating the city. It was a beautiful sight. Snake walked to the edge and put his hands on the stone architecture. He stared out towards the Hudson River, and could just barely make out a tanker passing under it. Snake frowned, as the sight brought back bad memories.

The 'incident' that had taken place aboard the _Discovery_ tanker three years ago still disgusted him to this day. He and Otacon had still been with Philanthropy then, when Otacon received some interesting intel. Apparently, the U.S. Marines had constructed their very own Metal Gear which they had called 'RAY'. Although Snake had taken down and exposed many Metal Gears before that, this one was supposed to be completely superior to any other model before it, including the Army's 'REX' model. The Marines had designed this new version of Metal Gear to hunt down and destroy all other derivatives of Metal Gear REX, whose designs had been sold on the black market, following the Shadow Moses island incident in 2005. If they could expose this new model, it would be a huge blow dealt to the nuclear proliferation movement.

Snake had easily snuck on board the ship as it passed under the George Washington Bridge. But not even five minutes had gone by, when a Russian private army group invaded the ship. They quickly took over the ship, setting up security measures all over. Snake knew they could only be there for one reason, Metal Gear. Snake had been able to work his way down to the hull of the tanker, where Metal Gear's unveiling was taking place. Since the majority of the Marines on board had been down at the briefing, no one knew that the Russians were on board. Snake managed to snap a few pictures of the new Metal Gear model, and quickly sent them to Otacon. But just then things went sour. The Russians ambushed the entire place, and revealed their plans to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Scott Dolph. The leader of the Russian mercenary group was Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich, a Russian nationalist, and he personally held the Commandant at gunpoint. Snake had been hiding in the back watching all this as it was unfolding. He thought that it was the worst possible thing that could be happening, at least until 'he' arrived.

Snake let the memory go, and returned to his mission. He walked along the balcony, which followed the building halfway around it's perimeter.

"Snake, you should be able to see the executive elevator," delivered Otacon.

Snake spotted a glass elevator rising from the perimeter of the building.

"I see it," declared Snake.

"Right. As you can see, this elevator doesn't need it's own shaft because it's situated outside against the exterior wall. It can only be accessed from the 74th floor and up. It's designated for those with executive level clearance only," explained Otacon.

"You probably need some sort of access key or password to get it to work right?" asked Snake.

"Exactly, and since we have neither, we're going to be doing this a little differently," said Otacon.

"That's why the lobby elevator can only take you up to the 74th floor?" inquired Snake.

"Right again. See the lobby elevator you took only takes you to the 74th floor, which is the first floor of the executive level. It doesn't go any higher than that. Once on the executive level, the only way up or down to another executive floor is by using the executive elevators, which can take you from the 74th floor to the 80th. There are two on each building, one on each side. There is a stairwell, but you need executive clearance once you get to the 74th floor. Of course it does automatically unlock in the event of a fire drill."

"So basically without executive clearance, you're limited to the 74th floor and down?" asked Snake.

"Uh huh. These guys weren't kidding when they built this place. Not only is their security top of the line, but the place was designed so that only executive officials could have access to executive files."

"Which makes whatever's up there all the more important, and it makes getting in all the more fun," said Snake.

"Make your way to the end of the balcony. They couldn't have built the elevator any closer to it, so when the lift comes back down, you should be able to climb on top of it. When it rises back up to the top floor, you can enter the ventilation system again, and from there have access to the top floor."

Snake took a moment to analyze how he was going to do this. The elevator was currently stopped at the top floor, and would be descending any minute now. Snake walked over to the edge of the balcony and looked up again. With his eyes, he followed the track that was built into the wall to support the elevator all the way up. A few seconds later, the elevator began it's descent.

It came down in front of Snake, and stopped. He waited again until finally it began to rise once more. Snake lifted himself up onto the balcony railing, stood straight up, gripped the roof of the elevator, and pulled himself onto it. Once he was safely crouching on top, he turned to face the wall as he rose. He spotted the air duct, and as soon as the elevator hit the top floor, he tugged the covering off and quickly entered before the elevator lowered yet again. After making his way through the air vent, Snake found himself in an empty office. After stepping out of the air duct and replacing the covering Snake cautiously opened the door, and stepped out.

"There aren't any security guards on the floor Snake, only cameras and motion sensors," warned Otacon. "If you keep your stealth camo on, and move slowly you should be fine."

"Copy that," assured Snake. "Now what am I looking for?"

"Hold on a sec," replied Otacon.

Snake crouch walked across the hallway, making sure to avoid the motion detectors, and walked over to the elevator. He noticed the slot for the PAN card used to gain access to the executive elevator.

"Otacon, I could've easily gotten through this instead of taking the risk of falling eighty stories below," said Snake examining the slot.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" joked Otacon.

Snake chuckled. "Yeah, it's fun if you're not the one scaling buildings," responded Snake walking around the hallway slowly.

Keeping to the shadows, Snake killed time by investigating the top floor of the skyscraper. There wasn't much to look at though. He only found two offices on the whole floor, and the rest was mainly decorations. It wasn't until he spotted the pair of blast doors in the back that Snake stopped. He walked up to the massive doors and pressed his hand against them. _I've seen banks with vault doors that had less security than this. _Snake was impressed by the uniqueness of the security installations that could be found within Vertigo Plaza. It rivaled most of what he had encountered in Shadow Moses and in the Big Shell. The door's security consisted of six stages before it's interior could be breached: keycard, numbered password, retinal scan, voice identification, fingerprint identification, and a DNA sample. Now that he thought about it, Snake would've bet that the entire floor was built out of the same alloy that the blast doors were made of. _Maybe even the whole building._

"Okay Snake, there should be two offices on that level," announced Otacon suddenly. "You there?"

Snake kneeled down. "Yeah, sorry, now about the offices . . . ."

"If what I'm reading is correct, the director's office was just recently moved from the 77th floor to the top floor. It's the one opposite from the elevator," directed Otacon. Snake could just barely hear Otacon's fingers tapping the keys on his laptop.

"I see it," replied Snake moving towards the office with the brown oak door. He saw that just like the others, it needed a PAN card to gain access.

"Okay, I'm gonna try something new here, Snake. You ready?" asked Otacon.

Snake was puzzled. "Depends on what this something is, Otacon," replied Snake.

"I'm going to put a current through your suit using the nanomachines in your body," explained Otacon.

"What kind of current are we talking about?"

"If I'm right, which I'm pretty sure I am, this current has a certain frequency that can bypass the Pan's digital analyzer, giving you access to the room."

Snake thought about it for a moment. "I'm not trying to be a skeptic or anything, but is this gonna hurt?"

Otacon laughed nervously. "It'll feel like a small bee sting, that's it," assured Otacon.

Snake frowned, feeling unconvinced. "Right."

"Tell me when," replied Otacon.

Snake took a deep breath, knelt down in front of the door, closed his eyes, and said, "I'm ready."

For a moment nothing happened. The room was quiet and still. Snake reopened his eyes, when immediately a surge of pain struck every portion of his body. Sparks were flying from Snake's sneaking suit, and he fought the urge to scream. The pain lasted a few more seconds, before it finally subsided, leaving Snake gasping for breath in the once again quiet and dark hallway.

"Snake! Are you okay?" yelled Otacon.

It took Snake a moment to gather his bearings before he could give any sort of reply. After finally recovering, he responded.

"Jesus Christ, Otacon! You said a small bee sting, not a swarm of killer bees!"

He heard Otacon exhale in relief. "I'm sorry. We'd never used that before, and I didn't want to scare you," explained Otacon apologetically. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Snake stood straight up and reached for the door knob. "I'll live." And with that he entered the room.

Snake took a moment to take in the room. It consisted of a desk which Snake guessed was probably made out of the same wood as the door. It was situated in front of the southern wall, which wasn't a wall at all, but a large glass window. On top of the desk was a silver laptop computer, partially open. Next to it was a pen holder, a small lamp, and some papers. Snake glanced to his right, and noticed a beautiful samurai sword collection on the wall. Beneath that was a collection of fine pottery from different parts of the world. Snake realized that the entire room was decorated with similar items.

"Otacon, you'd love it here," said Snake gazing at the three blades on the wall.

"Don't make me jealous Snake," replied Otacon.

Snake left the wall and walked over to the laptop. He flipped it open, and accessed the desktop. Then he retrieved a small flash drive from his pouch, and inserted it into the computer's USB port.

"Okay, she's all yours, Otacon," said Snake.

Otacon made a wireless connection to the flash drive via his laptop. Snake spent the next ten minutes chatting with Otacon as the files were uploaded into the flash drive and Otacon's computer. Just as boredom had begun to envelop Snake, the upload finished.

"Alright Otacon, tell me what we've got," said Snake removing the flash drive.

"Well, it's just as I guessed," began Otacon. "Heavily encrypted files, and firewalls everywhere. It'll take some time to arrange everything, but I think we've got what we came for. Let's see now . . . . hmm, okay this looks interesting."

Snake glanced at the portfolio of papers on the desk and picked it up. He looked through them as Otacon spoke.

"We've got some documentations here, video journals, personal notes, all by the same guy, Albert Wesker," reported Otacon.

"Never heard of him," answered Snake, analyzing the files in his hands.

"Either way, I think you're pretty much done in there, so wrap it up. You can take the stairway to the roof, and if this manifest I'm looking at is accurate, there should be a helicopter up there. Grab a parachute, and call me when you land."

Snake took out his micro digital camera and snapped a few photos of some of the files he was looking at. When he was done, he replaced the papers back in the folder, switched off the laptop, and closed it back in it's original position. Then he exited the room, crossed the hallway to the stairway door and ascended to the roof. It had stopped snowing, but it felt colder than ever. Immediately, he spotted the chopper on the helipad and walked over to it. Opening the door, Snake found a parachute and pulled it out, closing the door.

"You know, Otacon, I haven't done this in awhile, and I'm not really looking forward to it," stated Snake, peering over the side of the building. "But if this is the only way-," but he was cut off by the sound of the roof access door opening once more.

Exiting from the staircase was a gorgeous dark-haired women of Asian descent. She was wearing a revealing red dress with a golden butterfly design, black high heels and Snake could just make out a black gun/knife holster around her right thigh, which was exposed. Around her neck she wore a black ribbon, which fell down on her back. Judging by her features, Snake assumed she was in her late 20's. Her eyes were strong, filled with confidence, and Snake knew from the moment he looked into them, that she was no amateur.

The mysterious woman was wielding an MK23 SOCOM pistol, much like the one Snake was used to, however he noticed some slight modifications.

Snake raised his hands in the air and faced her as she slowly walked towards him, her black heels making contact with the ground.

"Don't you think it's a little late to be sneaking around like that?" she asked, her voice cool and collected.

Snake grinned. "Don't you think it's a little cold for you to be wearing a dress like that?" Snake countered. "Not that it looks bad on you."

Now it was her turn to smile. "So, this is the legendary Solid Snake. Charming and funny," she stated.

"If you didn't have that gun pointed at me, I'd be flattered," replied Snake.

The mysterious woman laughed. "Well, you're welcome then."

"So, what is a girl like you doing on the roof an eighty story building, with a gun, in this weather?" inquired Snake, keeping his own cool.

"Oh you know, the usual, enjoying the moonlight, gazing at the stars, following mysterious intruders," she answered, switching her shooting hand.

"Yeah, about that. You know how it is. You're out looking for kicks, you get some dinner, maybe hit a club, infiltrate a building, that sort of stuff."

She took a step forward, and for a second Snake felt intimidated. This was no ordinary woman. Her posture was perfect, and she moved with such easiness and grace that if they would have met on different terms, Snake would have enjoyed dancing with her. Now, as she approached him, Snake's stomach did a back flip. He had encountered many deadly beauties in his past, the most prominent being Sniper Wolf, but this girl was different. Snake, knew he was in trouble, and he needed to get out of there quick.

"Listen, I'm really in a hurry, so could we wrap this up quick," said Snake, eying the edge of the rooftop.

"Of course, just give me the files you took, and I'll be on my way, no harm no foul," she responded her eyes locked with Snake's.

"Smart girl. Now I'd love to stay and chat, but I really must be going." And with that Snake took off to his right.

She fired a single shot at Snake, which missed hiss shoulder by inches. He ran behind the helicopter for cover, but without stopping, switched on his stealth camo, clipped on the parachute, and dove off the building. Snake pulled the rip cord instantly, and he felt himself slowdown mid-air.

"Otacon, I'm activating my beacon now. Pick me up when I touch down."

"Snake, what the hell happened?" asked Otacon, sounding disturbed.

"I'll fill you in later," answered Snake. He directed himself towards an empty street, where no one would spot Otacon picking him up. Once on course, he let his mind wander as it tried to take in what had just happened.

Meanwhile, the beautiful woman who only moments ago had Solid Snake at gunpoint, was now leaning over the side of the building. She smiled to herself, walked over to the chopper, and pulled out her communicator. It wasn't until she established the correct connection, that she spoke.

"He got away," she began.

"Didn't I tell you?" replied the man she had just contacted.

"It was exactly as you said," responded the woman.

"And the files?"

"He took them," she answered, entering the helicopter.

"Excellent work Ada, you've done well. Shall I send a chopper to your location to retrieve you?" asked the man.

"No need, I've got my own," objected Ada, starting up the aircraft. "You know, I was expecting him to be good, but not that good."

The voice answered, "Well what did you expect, I mean after all, he does have the same code as me."


	7. Chapter 6

**X  
**

**- CHAPTER 6 -  
**

* * *

**Downtown Manhattan**

**New York City**

It was nearly midnight, and yet the streets of New York City were still booming with pedestrians. Left and right, people could be found walking along the sidewalks, some in the streets, and others on bicycles. The homeless were up and about, looking for shelter against the weather, and begging for petty change. Some even resorted to banging on car windows as they passed by, hoping someone would stop. One car in particular, a black SUV to be exact, was making a right when a long-haired man wearing a gray trench coat with holes in it, ran up to the passenger side door, and started rapping on the window.

"Hey! Buddy!" yelled the stranger. "C'mon give me a ride! I'm freezin' my ass off out here!"

The driver hit the gas and took off, nearly running over the stranger's foot.

"Sorry man, but I'm in a hurry," muttered Otacon to himself.

The signal on the GPS tracker was growing stronger, and Otacon realized he had just missed his turn.

"I think you just passed me," announced Snake through the codec.

"Yeah, I'm turning around now, hold up," replied Otacon turning the wheel.

Thankfully this was not a busy street, so no one would notice anything suspicious. Otacon directed the truck into a secluded alleyway, parked behind a trash dumpster, and turned the engine off. Then he peered out through the windshield, searching for Snake. Otacon found him rounding up the parachute and stuffing it into another dumpster. He got out and walked over to Snake. They performed their usual handshake before anyone spoke.

"Did you land okay?" began Otacon.

"The wind started pushing me towards one of the busy streets, so I had to detour and land on the roof of this condo," explained Snake, pointing to the building they were currently behind. "I took the fire escape down here, so I guess things didn't go too bad."

Otacon helped Snake remove his equipment and together they packed everything into the trunk. Afterwards, Snake gave Otacon his flash drive, and they both got into the car. Now Snake was driving, and he started up the engine and exited the alleyway, driving towards the nearest bridge.

"Okay, now tell me what happened on the roof," stated Otacon once they were a good ten blocks away from Vertigo Plaza.

Snake explained how he had made his way to the roof of Vertigo Plaza, as well as the appearance of the mysterious woman.

"She knew who I was, and that I had taken something from the complex," said Snake.

Otacon was opening his laptop and plugging in the flash drive as he spoke.

"Did you recognize her?" asked Otacon.

"No, I've never seen her before," replied Snake. "But somehow she knew me."

"Snake, I've got a feeling that we're involved in something bigger than we originally thought," denounced Otacon, who was bringing up the files from the flash drive.

Snake thought about it for a moment. He knew Otacon was right, and the appearance of the mysterious woman confirmed his thoughts.

"We can't be sure until we find out what's on those files," announced Snake.

"Right. Let's find a hotel out of town, and I'll start decoding the encryptions," said Otacon.

Snake nodded in approval, and headed in the direction of the George Washington Bridge. He preferred to check into a hotel in New Jersey to avoid suspicion. Crossing the bridge, Snake realized he was tired. He smiled to himself, finding it funny that he had to _realize_ that he was tired. The complex had been a fair challenge to his infiltration skills, but once again he had prevailed. Snake replayed the entire mission in his mind, from the moment he crossed the security gate, to the moment when he jumped off of the building. The mysterious woman's face crowded his mind, blocking out all else.

_How the hell did she know what I was up to? How the hell did she even get up there? _

Too many unanswered questions were starting to arise, and that usually meant trouble. Snake was anxious to find out what on Earth he had infiltrated Vertigo Plaza for, but apparently, the encryption was proving to be a challenge even for Otacon.

At around half past midnight, they arrived at a small motel on the outskirts of New Jersey. Snake still had his sneaking suit on, so Otacon checked them in to avoid any unwanted attention. They unloaded only what they would need for the night, and entered their room. It was a small room with two beds, a bathroom, and small kitchen. After situating themselves, Snake took a hot shower, while Otacon continued to break away the wall of security around the files.

"Any luck?" asked Snake, drying his head with a towel.

"Some," replied Otacon, keeping his eyes on the screen. "I've managed to extract various files, but nothing major. You should get some sleep, and I'll have it done by morning."

Snake did not doubt for a second that Otacon would succeed. He was a beast when it came to hacking and cyber infiltration. Looking at him now, Otacon seemed to be locked in combat with his virtual enemy, who was hiding in a protective shell. The expression on his face, serious and focused, only added to this.

"Yeah, I think I could use some rest. I'm still feeling the after effect of that bee sting," teased Snake.

Otacon scoffed, but did not stop his work. Snake strode over to his bed and switched off his lamp.

"You planning on getting some sleep tonight?" asked Snake, yawning.

"I doubt it," replied Otacon. "This could take awhile."

Snake shrugged his shoulders, pulled the covers over himself, and tried to fall asleep. It was difficult, what with Otacon typing, and his mind full of questions, but eventually he was able to doze off.

When Snake awoke the following morning, he felt completely replenished. He checked the clock, which read 9:34 a.m, and realized he had slept around eight hours. Glancing around the room however, he noticed that Otacon wasn't around. Rising to his feet, Snake checked the bathroom, but it too was also empty. It wasn't until he was in the middle of brushing his teeth, that Snake heard the door open.

"Oh, you're up," stated Otacon surprised. He was holding two cups of coffee, and offered one to Snake.

"Thanks. For a moment there, I thought something might have happened to you," said a relieved Snake.

Otacon laughed. "Nah, I was just trying to get some breakfast," he explained, pulling out some pop tarts from his pocket. "This was all I could get. Apparently there isn't any food place around for miles."

Snake gratefully accepted the food. "It's fine, I'm not that hungry anyway," assured Snake, sitting down at the table. "So, did you get any sleep?"

Otacon sat across from him and opened his pop tarts. "As a matter of fact I did. I finished around three in the morning, and I woke up half an hour ago."

Snake was chewing on his first pop tart, and could not reply immediately. "You know these things taste better when they're hot," he said, taking a sip from his coffee. Otacon nodded in agreement.

Once they were done, they changed clothes, and packed the rest of their stuff in the car. Snake picked up the car keys, but Otacon stopped him.

"I'm driving, I've got a lot to say," he declared.

Snake nodded and handed him the keys. Otacon always liked to be concentrating on something when he was talking, like his computer, or in this case the road. That usually meant he had something important to say, and Snake had a feeling that whatever Otacon found out last night was crucial.

Exiting the room, they locked the door, walked downstairs, turned the keys in at the front desk, and were on the road by 10:00.

The day was nice, the sky cloudless, and the sun shining. Behind them, the skyscrapers of New York City became small specs, and eventually they were out of sight completely. The radio was turned to a sports channel, but the volume was so low you could barely hear what the hosts were saying. Otacon turned onto the highway and headed south, and then finally he broke the silence.

"Looks like we're catching another flight Snake," announced Otacon.

"I was expecting as much," responded Snake, staring out the window. "Where to?"

"Colorado," replied Otacon.

"Colorado?" repeated Snake, puzzled.

Otacon nodded. "Leadville to be exact."

Snake had never heard of Leadville, nor had he ever been to Colorado before, which was funny because Snake had traveled all over most of the world.

"Never heard of it," said Snake, focusing his attention on Otacon.

"Neither have I," stated Otacon.

"Okay, so we've got a heading, now what's the situation?"

Otacon switched lanes, and then began. "Okay, first of all, we were right. The government has secretly been funding Umbrella, for five years to be exact. I found a record of certain transactions that had taken place, mostly offshore accounts, but when I traced them back to the source, it was always the same group."

"Transactions between who?" asked Snake.

"Omnicorp and some branch off the private sector. It's a cover of course. Anyways, more important than that is the fact that the Patriots were secretly in contact with one individual in particular, Albert Wesker."

Snake thought to himself, remembering the name from the night before.

"This guy Wesker seems very adamant about restoring Umbrella, so much that he has allied himself with them."

Snake was confused. "But who is he?"

Otacon continued. "There were a certain pair of files that were harder to crack than the others, the video journals and all that other private stuff. It turns out, they were the private recordings and observations of Albert Wesker." Otacon adjusted his glasses before moving on. "It turns out that this guy Wesker was an Umbrella researcher himself. Actually he was one of their head researchers for almost twenty years. The facility where he conducted most of his experiments was hidden in a mansion in the Arklay Mountains."

Snake began to see what Otacon was getting at. "Raccoon City," muttered Snake. "Go on."

Otacon nodded and continued." In 1996, Wesker transferred out of research, and worked his way up into the Raccoon City Police Department, where he quickly became the Alpha Team leader of S.T.A.R.S."

"S.T.A.R.S.?" pondered Snake. "What's that?"

Otacon replied, "It stands for Special Tactics And Rescue Squad. They're supposedly the best of the best out there."

Snake nodded. "Got it."

Otacon was now entering a tunnel, and passed another car.

"Now, according to Wesker, Raccoon City was largely dominated by the Umbrella Corporation. Around 30 percent of the city's inhabitants were working for Umbrella in one form or another. Apparently Umbrella wanted to make sure that if anything went wrong, they could cover their asses. The chief of police at the time, was even taking bribes from Umbrella in order to keep him quiet."

"Quiet about what? What the hell was Umbrella hiding?" asked Snake.

"I'm getting there," replied Otacon. "Now, in 1998, there were many reports of mysterious deaths occurring near the Arklay Mountains region. The S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team was sent by helicopter to investigate the killings. However, their helicopter crashed, and after no communication with them could be established, the Alpha Team was dispatched to locate their whereabouts. Upon entering the forest, the Alpha Team was attacked by mutant dogs.

"Mutant dogs?" asked Snake, surprised.

"The products of Umbrella's research inside the mansion. The Spencer Estate, as it is called, had been abandoned for years, and no one but Wesker knew about it's dark past. In reality, he had led his team into the mansion in order to use them as test subjects against the various bio-organic weapons and mutant creatures in the facility. He wanted to collect the battle data from all of the creatures in the facility. He was no longer with Umbrella at this time, so it must have taken a lot of planning."

"So the research that had taken place in the mansion was genetic engineering?"

Otacon nodded. "Exactly. Since no one knew of Wesker's past with Umbrella, he was never a suspect."

"Why was the mansion abandoned? Umbrella had a perfectly good research facility hidden away from prying eyes."

"Alright, let me back up a little. In 1967, three men discovered a new strain of mutagenic virus they dubbed the Progenitor Virus. These three men, Edward Ashford, Oswell E. Spencer, and James Marcus, founded the Umbrella Corporation in order to continue researching this breakthrough. But unlike Spencer and Marcus, who saw this discovery as a means to gain wealth and power, Ashford's only interest was to research and study the Progenitor Virus, in hopes of utilizing its restorative effects to create medical and scientific achievements. Unfortunately, Ashford died a year later."

"Sounds like this Ashford wasn't a bad guy" denounced Snake.

Otacon nodded once more. "That same year, Marcus was appointed as the general overseer of Umbrella's training facility, leaving the financial aspects of the company to Spencer. It took him over a decade, but Marcus eventually produced the achievement of his life."

"What do you mean?"

"Marcus arrived at the training facility in 1968. It was here that Marcus met Albert Wesker and William Birkin. Birkin was only fifteen at the time, and Wesker was nearing twenty, but they were nevertheless science prodigies, and Marcus regarded them as his top apprentices. They played a key role in Marcus's research. In 1978, by combining leech DNA with the Progenitor Virus, Marcus was able to create the T-Virus. Also known as the Tyrant Virus, this breakthrough eventually led to the creation of Umbrella's first biological weapon, the Tyrant. While scientifically unethical, the research had been a complete success."

Snake nodded. "So this guy Marcus must've gotten a lot of attention from the higher ups, huh?"

"Yup, and that wasn't a good thing. See Spencer was growing paranoid of Marcus's sudden success. He was afraid that Marcus might try to take over the company, so Spencer moved Marcus from the training facility to a secret research laboratory beneath an estate in the Arklay mountains, where Marcus continued his research with the T-Virus. However, he was unaware that his pupils were secretly conducting their own experiments with the virus, and in 1988 Spencer ordered them to assassinate Marcus."

They had just reached the end of the tunnel. Snake adjusted his seat and nodded to Otacon to continue.

"Wesker and Birkin took over Marcus's research from that point on, until 1991 when Wesker began to have doubts about Spencer's intentions. He left Umbrella and joined the Raccoon City Police Department. Five years later, he formed S..S. Now I think we've just about come full circle."

Otacon opened a bottle of water he had purchased and took a sip.

"Now we're back where I started. As I mentioned earlier, two years after the formation of S.T.A.R.S., a series of unexplained homicides began to occur near the Arklay region. When it seemed things were getting out of hand, S.T.A.R.S. dispatched their Bravo Team to investigate. But a few hours later, their chopper crashed somewhere in the woods, and after contact with them could not be established, the Alpha Team, led by Wesker, was dispatched to the site. Upon arrival, the Alpha Team was attacked by one of Umbrella's biological weapons, mutant dogs called Cerberus. The team took refuge in a nearby mansion, the same mansion that housed the research laboratory. Only now it was abandoned, and according to Wesker, Marcus had somehow been revived after ten years, and released the T-Virus into the area. The virus, when inhaled, kills the person, and minutes later reanimates the body in the form of a mindless zombie."

Snake was dumbfounded. "Zombie? Are you serious?"

"Very serious," replied Otacon looking at Snake for a moment before returning his sights to the road ahead. "As it turns out, this was the cause of the mysterious deaths the Bravo Team was sent to investigate."

Snake couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Continue."

Otacon did so. "The Alpha Team, after entering the mansion, encountered many of these zombies, as well as various other biological weapons roaming the grounds. As I said before, Wesker allowed these creatures to take out his team so he could collect battle data on them, but in the end it was not enough. A few members of S.T.A.R.S., Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, and Barry Burton were able to escape after nearly being killed by a Tyrant that Wesker had released. Wesker activated the facility's self-destruct mechanism and escaped as well. The Alpha Team pilot, Brad Vickers, who had abandoned them in the forest, returned and extracted the Alpha Team survivors, as well as the only Bravo Team survivor, Rebecca Chambers. They barely escaped the explosion."

Snake was amazed at the feat the small group had accomplished. He could only imagine the horrors they must have faced while in that god forsaken place. An anger burned within him, anger towards Umbrella.

"So what happened to the survivors?" asked Snake.

"Two months after the mansion incident is when the Raccoon City outbreak occurred. Remember Marcus' second assistant, William Birkin? Well like I said, he had moved his research to a lab under Raccoon City, and had a breakthrough of his own. Working with the T-Virus, Birkin created another variation, the G-Virus. This new form of virus greatly increased the carrier's metabolism, accelerated cell duplication and revitalization of dead cells, but at the cost of higher brain functions. After Umbrella found out that Birkin was going to sell the G-Virus to the U.S. Government, they deployed an elite team to stop Birkin before he handed the virus over. Birkin was mortally wounded, and in the struggle, a vial of T-Virus was spilled and digested by the rodent population in the sewers. That was how it eventually reached the citizens of Raccoon City, and the outbreak began."

"Now we know the truth" muttered Snake. "The real truth."

"After the mansion incident, Wesker was forced into hiding, and accomplished most of his goals by enlisting the aid of a spy, Ada Wong. When the city outbreak occurred, Wesker sent Ada into Raccoon City to retrieve a sample of the G-Virus. It was there that she met Leon Kennedy."

Snake recognized the name immediately. "The guy that saved the President's daughter six years ago?"

Otacon nodded. "The very same. This guy has a long connection to Umbrella which I'll get to in a moment."

Snake was surprised by the startling news. Back in 2004, Kennedy had rescued the President's daughter after she had been kidnapped by terrorists. Snake had heard of him of course, but had never actually met him. The fact that Kennedy's past intersected with Umbrella's was disturbing.

Otacon continued. "Ada was injured during a fight with a mutated William Birkin, who had injected himself with the G-Virus after the strike team had left him for dead. She was presumed dead after that by Leon. However, Wesker was able to save her life and get her out of the city. Now, this is where the story get interesting."

Snake looked over at Otacon. "As if it hasn't been already?

Otacon replied, "Snake there was more to the kidnapping of the President's daughter than we thought."

Snake was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"In 2004, Ashley Graham, the President's daughter, was kidnapped by a terrorist organization called 'Los Illuminados'. Kennedy was assigned to locate and return her. His search eventually led him to a small town somewhere in Spain. Little did he know that he was about to walk into a nightmare. It turns out that the leader of the terrorists, Osmund Saddler, had just recently discovered a parasite called 'Las Plagas'. He hired a researcher named Luis Sera to strengthen the parasite, which in turn led to the discovery of it's mind controlling abilities. Saddler had infected the people of the village with the parasite, and had them all under his control. After kidnapping the President's daughter, he was going to inject her with the virus and send her back to the U.S. In the end, he was planning on taking over the United States through mind control."

"I wonder how the Patriots would have reacted to that," pondered Snake.

"Wesker found out about the 'Las Plagas' sample, and sent a man named Jack Krauser to infiltrate Saddler's ranks and gain his trust."

"I've heard of Krauser," said Snake. "Supposedly he was killed in a helicopter crash back in 2002."

"Well apparently not," replied Otacon, reaching once more for the water bottle. After taking a sip, he continued with his story.

"In order to gain Saddler's trust, Krauser was ordered by Saddler to kidnap the President's daughter. So basically Krauser was the one who kidnapped Ashley, on Saddler's behalf. However, things weren't going exactly as planned for Saddler. After finding out Saddler's true motives, Luis Sera stole a plagas sample, and even helped out Leon a few times. But eventually, Saddler caught up to him and killed him. Meanwhile, even though Krauser had kidnapped Ashley, Saddler still didn't trust him, so Wesker was forced to send Ada in to personally steal the sample. Leon, who had rescued Ashley and was trying to escape the place, ran into Ada a few times. She helped him along the way, but she never revealed her true motives. Saddler managed to recapture Ashley, and he had her transported to an island base near the village. Leon's journey eventually led him there where he faced Krauser, who was an acquaintance of Leon. He was able to remove the parasite from Ashley, and also from himself, which had been injected into him earlier. He killed Saddler with the help of Ada, and escaped with the President's daughter before the island self-destructed. Ada was successful in recovering a plagas sample, but she betrayed Wesker and gave him a fake one. In reality she was working for an unknown corporation, who Wesker calls his rival. Ada's current whereabouts are unknown."

Snake was impressed by the whole ordeal. "This guy Leon sounds like a good guy. Where is he now?"

That was when Otacon smiled. "Colorado."

Snake eyed Otacon with a look of question. "You don't mean that-"

"That's right Snake, he's involved again, only I don't think he knows it yet."

Snake's mind raced with questions. "Explain."

"Gladly," obliged Otacon. "Less than a week ago, NASA reported that an object from space entered the Earth's atmosphere and crashlanded,in the Colorado Rockies. Shortly afterwards, they sent a team over to investigate, but apparently, they disappeared."

As Snake took in the information, more and more questions formed in his head.

"I got this particular piece of information from an e-mail Wesker sent to one of his "associates". He didn't specify what NASA had found, only mentioning that this new discovery could place Umbrella back on the map in a way that it never was. That pretty much tells us he was responsible for the team's disappearance. After that, the U.S. government assigned three special agents to investigate the scene. And guess who one of them is?"

Snake nodded. "Kennedy."

"Yes," responded Otacon.

And so everything had come full circle. Otacon allowed Snake to absorb all he had learned before speaking again. Snake could not believe the trail of conspiracy that Umbrella had left behind. One that not even he nor Otacon had known about. Snake had his own share of run-ins with conspiracies dealing with government cover-ups, among other things. Now he knew that he was not the only one out there constantly at war. He wasn't alone. After a few minutes, Snake finally broke the silence.

"This guy Leon's gonna have a heart attack when he finds out he's in the middle of another Umbrella scuffle. I assume you already have us a ride waiting."

Otacon grinned. "I can have us in the air by noon, and in Leadville by 5 p.m."

"Alright, since we're that it was Umbrella who took out that NASA team, we know that they'll stop at nothing to complete this operation, and they want no one to know about it."

Otacon agreed. "You think I should call in some help?"

Snake considered it. "Like who?"

"What about Jack Dark?" he suggested.

Jack Dark was a mercenary who Snake had met awhile back. He was proficient with an assortment of weapons, but always preferred his custom magnum. Snake had only worked with him once, but the two were natural friends ever since. Although Snake had lost contact with him, he knew enough to know that Jack wouldn't be able to help them out on this one.

"We can't call Jack. If my memory serves me right, he's got enough on his hands dealing with his daughter Joanna. Besides, he's in Britain right now."

Otacon scratched his chin. "Okay, then how about Fisher?"

_Good old Sam_, thought Snake. Otacon was referring to Sam Fisher, former CIA veteran and Navy SEAL, turned stealth operative for Third Echelon, a division of the NSA. Like Snake, Fisher was an expert in the art of stealth infiltration and espionage. Not only that, but the both of them preferred to work alone. They had met in Italy once, while Snake was on an assignment. Fisher believed in justice and honor, and for that Snake respected him.

"Fisher's undercover Otacon. He has been for almost two years now. Anyways I don't think he's still been able to live with his daughter's death."

To be honest, Snake did not believe that involving others was the best course of action, and mentioned his thoughts to Otacon.

"For now, let's just work with this guy Leon. You said he's there with two other agents, so that should be enough for now."

He noticed Otacon's disapproval. "But, if worst comes to worst, I need you to have Raiden and the Colonel on call."

Otacon's face lit up.

"I'll try to get in contact with them as soon as we get there," he answered. "As for Leon, hopefully he can keep himself and the others alive long enough for us to meet up with them."

"From what you told me this man has been through, I have little doubt he's gonna be dying anytime soon Otacon."

Snake's heart was beating with anticipation. They had finally tracked down the Patriots, and this time Snake was going to make sure he put an end to them once and for all. Whoever this man Wesker was, he had played a major role in some horrific events over the years. From what he had learned about him from Otacon, Wesker seemed ruthless, but strategic. An alliance between him and the Patriots made Snake feel uneasy. But this did not alter Snake's resolve. He had witnessed many atrocities committed by them, and vowed to stop at nothing to put an end to their rule once and for all. This Leon looked like someone Snake could trust, and to be more honest, someone he could relate to. He was looking forward to meeting him in person. Looking up, Snake noticed the road ahead of them seemed to go on forever. A road he strongly felt resembled the one they had just begun to follow.


	8. Chapter 7

**X**

**- CHAPTER 7 -  
**

* * *

**San Isabel Forest**

**Mount Elbert Base**

The snowfall had increased significantly since the trio had departed from their camp three hours ago. The afternoon sun was beating down on them as well, so they were neither pleased with heat nor cold. Through their jackets they were cold sweating, and on top of that they were exasperated. Not to mention their limited food supply. The day was dragging by slowly, and it seemed that they would never find their target.

However, since being attacked a few hours ago, the team had been replenished with a sense of just cause. The heat, the cold, both were merely obstacles put in their way to try and detour them from their goal. After surviving the ninja's attempt on their lives, to die out in the middle of nowhere, without even knowing why they were attacked, would just plain out suck, as Wesley put it. They traveled with renewed vigor, determined to succeed.

After arriving at the foot of the mountain nearly an hour ago, they were forced to detour around it through yet another forest, located southeast of Mount Elbert. The tall trees protected them from the sun, and also gave them cover against anyone who might be following them. Ever since being attacked back at the camp, the group had stayed alert in order to ensure they were not being preyed on again. So far, they had run into nothing but animals. Once, they had stumbled upon a deer, and Alan proposed killing it for the meat. But Wesley, being an animal lover, did not allow it. Leon was impressed with Wesley's affinity for animals, entirely because it was a side of him Leon had never witnessed before. He knew quite a lot about the wildlife out here, and Leon had picked up a few things that even he did not know.

Leon was glad that the others weren't allowing their current position to irritate them. Alan was in the lead followed by Wesley, with Leon bringing up the rear. He noticed that every few minutes Alan would crane his neck upward, trying to locate the peak of Mount Elbert. Wesley, in order to avoid boredom, had challenged himself to a game of 'Name The Animal'. After awhile, Leon had secretly joined in, attempting to name whatever animal Wesley would point at, but always to himself. Although not exactly in the highest spirits, the group was doing alright. They had traveled without speaking, the only sound coming either from the forest wildlife, or Wesley's murmuring of animal names. It was Alan who finally broke the silence.

"You know that tree looks familiar," said Alan.

Wesley turned to look at him. "Yeah, I think I've seen it like ten times today," remarked Wesley, adding to the joke.

The three of them shared a quick laugh. It was moments like these that kept them from losing their minds.

After the laughter subsided, Alan spoke again.

"Seriously though, check the compass again Leon, before we really do end up lost."

Leon nodded, and pulled out the electronic compass. He waited for the arrow to stop spinning, but after a few moments he realized that it wasn't slowing down. The arrow just kept on spinning.

"What the-" exclaimed Leon.

Alan looked at him. "What's wrong?"

Leon glanced up. "The damn compass is going crazy," he explained. "It's spinning out of control!"

Alan walked over to him. "Let me see."

Leon handed the device over to him. Alan tapped it a few times, then shook it lightly, but nothing happened.

"That's strange," he said with a baffled expression on his face. "It was working fine a while ago."

"Maybe it's broken," added Wesley.

Leon doubted it. The compass was state of the art, standard issue for assignments in areas like the one they were in. The device had been in Leon's pocket the whole time, so there was no way it could be damaged.

"No I don't think so," he stated, taking it back.

Wesley chimed back in. "It's pretty cold out here. Maybe it froze."

Alan kicked some snow over towards Wesley. Wesley laughed, wiped it off, then added, "Look, maybe it's just a messed up wire or something. Give it to me and I'll see what I can do."

Leon tossed the device over to Wesley. Wesley then removed his pack, opened it up, rummaged around through the various items inside, and extracted a small box of miniature tools. He sat down on the snow and got right to work.

Alan walked over to a tree and removed his own pack. Then he sat down with his back against it and said, "This could take awhile, why don't you try reaching HQ again."

Leon agreed. "I'll be right back."

Leon found a small clearing away from where the others were, reached into his other pocket, and pulled out his communicator. He switched it on and spoke, "Hunnigan, it's Leon. Please respond."

But all he heard was static, just like last time.

"Dammit," he muttered to himself.

Looking up, he noticed a snow covered hill, and determined to establish a line of communication with HQ, he jogged towards it. Every few feet he tried again, but the static just got worse and worse. Frustration was beginning to build up inside of him, and he had to force himself from not smashing the communicator against a tree. He turned to head back to the camp, but an ear piercing screech from behind him caused him to whirl back around. The sound had come from over the hill, and if Leon wasn't mistaken, it sounded like the brakes of a train. Reaching the top, he was surprised when he found out he was right.

Resting about eighty yards away, was an armored train. As he moved to return the communicator to his pocket, he realized that while it was still switched on, the device was off. Leon checked the battery, but it was fine. Ignoring the device for the moment, Leon went prone and pulled out his binoculars.

Focusing on the train, he spotted men in black turtle necks and kevlar jackets dismounting the train. They were carrying automatic weapons, and had on high tech equipment. Leon guessed that the ninjas, whoever they were, must have been working for these people here. Scanning the area, Leon focused on one man, who seemed to be barking orders. Unlike the rest of them, he was wearing a brown trench coat, a brown shirt and tie, and sunglasses with circular lenses. His hair was brown, but Leon spotted some gray on both sides of his head. He seemed angry, yelling at almost everyone who got near him. Leon saw him put his index finger to his hear, as if he had an earpiece on. He spoke, but it looked like no one responded.

Leon then set his sights on the front car, and caught a glimpse of a few men in there as well. It looked like they were trying to fix something that had gone wrong. Hearing footsteps from behind him, Leon turned his neck around and spotted Alan and Wesley jogging up the hill. When they arrived, they mimicked Leon's position and got on their bellies.

"I'm guessing you heard it too," said Alan, approaching Leon. "What the hell happened?"

"Take a look," replied Leon handing over the binoculars. "It's a train, and I think it broke down."

Wesley came up on his other side and asked, "Any luck with HQ?"

Leon shook his head. "Same as last time, nothing. And now the communicator isn't working either. It's switched on, but it's like the battery died." Leon saw that Wesley had the compass and asked, "Any luck with the compass?"

This time Wesley shook his head. "Well the arrow stopped spinning, but then it went dead."

Alan lowered the binoculars from his eyes. "They've got a small army over there," he stated, handing the binoculars to Wesley. "And I spotted more ninjas, like the ones that attacked us before."

"So now we know where they came from, but we still don't know who they are," said Leon.

Without taking his eyes off the binoculars, Wesley added, "Well it's obvious that whatever it is we're looking for, these guys are after it too. It can't just be a coincidence."

Leon had been thinking the exact same thing. "High tech gear, and automatic weapons, not to mention all the secrecy, whatever landed out here must be something big."

Alan nodded. "I don't remember there ever being any railroad tracks when we went over the maps of this area."

Leon hadn't thought of that. "That's because there weren't any. These guys are good, real good. From the looks of it I'd say they've been conducting operations out here for awhile now. They probably killed off the NASA team too."

"Did the train break down?" asked Wesley, still scanning the area.

"That's what I'm guessing," replied Leon, staring out towards the train. "They hit those breaks pretty damn hard."

"Obviously something's wrong," said Alan.

But before he could go any further with it, Wesley exclaimed, "Holy shit!" Both Alan and Leon turned to face him.

"What's wrong?" asked Alan.

Wesley handed the binoculars back to Alan and said, "Look towards the front of the train. Tell me if you recognize anyone."

Alan looked confused, an so did Leon. Alan lifted the binoculars back up to his eyes and looked around. After a few moments it seemed as if he couldn't find what Wesley had spotted, but then Leon noticed his eyes widen.

"How the hell is he still alive?" asked Alan.

"Who?" inquired Leon.

It took Wesley a moment, but he was finally able to get out just two words, "Wild Dog."

Leon was perplexed. "The mercenary?"

Alan nodded. "The one and only."

Like before, Leon's mind began to race once more.

"But I thought he was dead," said Leon turning from Alan to Wesley and back. "I heard he was killed in an Air Force Base not far from here during some sort of insurrection."

It was Wesley who answered. "Yeah, he was. But see we also killed him back on Astigos Island, and even before that he was taken down by two other V.S.S.E. agents."

"He refuses to die," muttered Alan to himself.

"I don't understand how he can be involved," said Leon, taking back the binoculars. "You think he's behind this?"

Alan shook his head. "I doubt that. He's a mercenary, a gun for hire. Once he's got a job, his employers always place him in a pretty high ranking position, usually just below their own."

Wesley nodded. "That's why he's issuing commands, and people are obeying them."

"So then we were right," said Leon. "If these people are willing to hire someone like Wild Dog to ensure their operation goes smooth, then they must not want any outside interference."

Alan nodded once more. "Not just that, but don't you think it's a little strange that the compass and the communicator just suddenly stopped working at the exact same time?"

The thought hadn't crossed Leon's mind. "The train too," he added.

Wesley nodded. "We've got nothing else electronic, but if we did I'd be willing to be that they wouldn't be working now either."

The three of them had arrived at the same conclusion, but Alan was the one who verbalized it.

"You think it was an EMP?"

Leon answered, "That's my guess, but why shut down their own train?"

Wesley shrugged. "Who knows?"

The trio stared back at the train once more, until Leon spoke again. "Listen guys, it looks like they're gonna have that train up and running pretty soon, and if I'm right, it'll probably lead us to whatever it is we're looking for."

Wesley smiled, catching Leon's message. "We're catching a train then?"

"Sounds good to me, my legs could use the rest." stated Alan.

"Alright then it's settled, we'll circle around to the back and see if we can sneak on board, and if not..." he stared out towards the stranded train. "Then you'll just have to introduce me to your old friend."

Alan and Wesley looked at each other, and then at Leon and they both gave him a thumbs-up.

Leon nodded in agreement. "Okay then, follow my lead," and with that he rose to his feet, extracted his Blacktail, switched off the safety, and jogged down the hill, with Alan and Wesley following suit.

Eighty yards away, on board the armored train, chaos had broken out. Wild Dog was delivering orders left and right, and from the looks of things, he was pissed. At least that's how it looked to Lieutenant Daniel Palmer, who was just stepping off the train. After the train had suddenly stopped, he had sent anyone without orders from Wild Dog to patrol the perimeter. They were stuck for the time being, and without communication, and even though he seriously doubted the need for so much security, with the type of operation that was being conducted out here in the wilderness, one could never be too careful.

He had just ordered a few men to flank the left side of the train, when he saw Wild Dog stepping back onto the train.

He approached their newly appointed commander, who had his back to Palmer.

"Sir," began Palmer.

Wild Dog turned around, the sun's reflection bouncing off of his sun glasses.

"The area is secure sir."

Wild Dog nodded in recognition. "Good," he replied, his face as stern as ever. "However I don't like the idea of sitting out here waiting to be spotted Lieutenant."

"Neither do I sir," responded Palmer, turning towards the technicians in the front car. "Have they found out what went wrong sir?"

Wild Dog turned to look at the technicians as well. "They can't know for sure until we regain power, but I have no doubt that the train was hit with an EMP blast."

Palmer was puzzled. "EMP sir?"

Wild Dog nodded. "Yes, and that's why I'm glad you brought the extra security Lieutenant. Shortly before we departed from the facility I was notified by our superior that another party might know about our discovery here."

Palmer was surprised by the news. "Another party sir?"

Wild Dog turned around and paced along the side of the train, with Palmer trailing to his right.

"He didn't specify, since it was only speculation. But he did mention that we should keep our eyes open. If I look a little on edge, now you know why. As I said before, I'm not too fond of just sitting here waiting to be attacked."

Wild Dog stared out at the wilderness around them.

"I agree sir," said Palmer, looking back towards the rear of the train. "Especially with our new cargo on board."

Wild Dog followed his look. "I want that car to be priority one Lieutenant."

Palmer nodded, his face full of assurance. "Of course sir. I'll see to it personally." With that he saluted his commander, turned, and headed towards the end of the train.

"Oh, and Lieutenant," spoke Wild Dog suddenly.

Palmer turned back around to face him. "Sir?"

But Wild Dog did not speak. All he did was pointed his first two fingers towards his eyes, rose them into the air, and then made a circle with them.

Palmer understood and nodded in affirmation. Turning once again, he walked towards the car which held their cargo. He allowed himself to go over what had occurred here this past week, since it had been the strangest set of events he had ever witnessed. Palmer and his mercenary squadron had been contacted about a well paying employer who was seeking the best protection money could buy. Well this man, Wesker, had made the right choice by choosing Palmer and his men. Wesker flew them out to a research facility up north in the Rockies, which had once been a secret Umbrella Corporation laboratory bunker. It was there that Palmer first met both Wesker and Wild Dog.

Wesker revealed that he needed Palmer and his men to secure a 'payload' of important items which had recently entered the Earth's atmosphere, and had landed in the Colorado wilderness. Wesker assigned Palmer to Wild Dog, and while not fully appreciating being a second in command, Palmer had grown to respect Wild Dog.

Their first task had been to eliminate a special NASA team that had arrived to investigate the find. That was an easy victory. The hard part came when Palmer first laid eyes on their discovery. Wesker gave them the coordinates of where the object landed, and together, Palmer and Wild Dog, along with a heavily armed convoy, set out towards the area. What they saw that day changed their lives forever.

Resting in a gargantuan crater sat some sort of spacecraft nearly one hundred and fifty feet long. Palmer had never seen anything like it before. The vessel was painted in a dark purple hue, which was distorted however, as the damage from the crash had been devastating. Palmer was never a big believer in extraterrestrial life, but after that day, his skepticism had disappeared.

Palmer's anticipation only grew when his team entered the ship. They had encountered computers and other technology never before seen, and that wasn't the best part. Their startling discovery of the 'alien' life form had left Palmer in shock. Littered all over the ground were the bodies of some type of life forms Palmer had never seen. They sort of resembled lizards in a way, except that they had two legs, and looked very capable of walking upright. They had neither long tongues nor tails, and seemed human-like in a way. Not only that, but their carcasses were covered by some sort of specialized armor. The creatures came in many different sizes, each differing from the last. Palmer had just been directing his team out of the ship when one of his men let out a cry of pain. Palmer replayed the horrendous catastrophe in his mind.

The man who had screamed had been impaled through his chest by yet another creature who had apparently survived the crash. Out of nowhere, more and more began to appear, all different in physical makeup. However, these had not been like the others that had been found dead, these things were nothing but monsters. The team managed to take a few down, but the creatures were too quick. Palmer remembered shooting one that looked like a balloon, causing it to explode. For a moment Palmer thought it was dead, until he realized that many more smaller ones had been released from within it's body. They all had two legs, but they moved extremely fast, and jumped onto the walls. Although Palmer managed to escape, he had lost four men that day, all who he had served with for years. They had killed most of the monsters, but captured a few for research. The specimens were loaded onto the convoy trucks, and transported to the research facility, where Wesker's researchers were now conducting experiments.

The rest of the week had been uneventful, the worst part being trying to recover from the madness of it all. Palmer had lashed out at Wesker upon returning to the facility. Wesker had used Palmer and his team without knowing what they were going to find, and without taking into account the risk of radiation exposure. And Palmer had walked right into a nightmare. Wesker had sympathized greatly, and although Palmer knew Wesker shared no remorse for Palmer's men, he had doubled their original payment arrangement. A portable base was set up around the ship, comprising of soldiers and scientists alike. To this day it still stands, as the mysterious origin of the craft is trying to be uncovered.

Then yesterday Palmer had been left even more dumbfounded. Wesker had received some knew information regarding another crash. Apparently another craft had landed a few miles away from the one Palmer's team had found, and that the reason why it had not been located sooner was because it was much smaller than the first. Palmer and Wild Dog once again took a convoy towards the site, where they had found a much smaller vessel, with a seating capacity of only two. Unlike the other ship, this one seemed as if it could have been created by humans, if it weren't for the advanced technology on board. It resembled a manta ray in shape, and had the letters 'UNSC' painted on the side. But most startling of all was the discovery of the armored being that had been lying on the floor of the ship. The being wore a helmet that covered it's entire face, and its armor was badly damaged. When they tried to lift it, the being wouldn't budge. So they were forced to take drastic measures.

They loaded the being up onto the convoy, and transported it towards the train tracks. There, the research facility train met them, and the being was re-loaded onto the train. Wild Dog and Palmer also boarded the train to oversee the transportation. Meanwhile the convoy was sent to recover the small ship and return it to the base camp that had been set up around the first ship, where they could both be watched over. And now here they were, on their way to transport the body to the research facility, when the train had suddenly stopped, and communication with the research facility had ceased. Palmer glanced down at the tracks next to him, and realized how hard it must have been to keep it's construction so secret.

A voice to his right broke his concentration.

"Sir!" yelled one of his men, running up to him. "We have a problem sir."

"What is it?" asked Palmer.

The man looked terrified. "It's the cargo sir! When the train went off line, so did everything else on board it. Including the stasis field for the cargo."

Palmer was staring the man right in his eyes. "What are you saying soldier? Spit it out!"

"Sir, I'm saying that it's gone! The cargo is gone!"

Palmer was taken aback. "What the hell do you mean gone?"

The man replied, "See for yourself sir." He beckoned Palmer over to the car where the being had been loaded onto. The soldier stopped and pointed inside for Palmer to see.

Peering inside, Palmer could not believe his eyes. "Jesus Christ," he said to himself. He could not believe it. The armored life form that had only moments ago been lying in the stasis field was now nowhere to be found. Palmer boarded the car, his sights never leaving the stasis container. Palmer's whole body was shaking. He was feeling anger and fear at the same time, and did not know how to react.

Without looking at the soldier, Palmer forced himself to say, "Inform Wild Dog. We need to track it down quickly."

But there was no reply.

"Did you hear me?"

Silence.

Quickly, Palmer turned around, but immediately stopped as he found himself in the sights of the soldier's assault rifle. Only it wasn't the soldier who was wielding the weapon. He was now unconscious on the floor. Palmer was now staring into the orange visor of his enemy.

There standing in the doorway, keeping the weapon trained on Palmer in one hand was the Master Chief.

"That's alright," he stated. "I'm right here."

Less than thirty feet away, Leon Kennedy had his back to a tree.

"Over there!" he whispered to Wesley, who was coming up behind him. Wesley mirrored Leon's position against a tree to Leon's right.

Kneeling down, Leon pulled out his binoculars, stuck his head out, and looked towards the train. The group had circled around the train through the surrounding forest. The tracks ran through the entire length of the forest, and exited directly into a two-mile snowfield that led right up to the mountain. Lucky for them the train had shutdown right when it had exited the forest, so while the majority of it was left sitting out in the snowfield, it's rear car was only a few feet away from the cover of the trees. Alan, who had volunteered to go ahead was now climbing up the ladder on the final car, which led to the roof.

Leon spotted him and motioned for Wesley to move in closer. They had to be prepared to cover Alan if things went sour. Alan was supposed to gain access to the last car and secure it before the others got in. Then they would wait in there until the train started up, and that's when they would make their move towards the front. Leon spotted Alan lying on the roof, flat on his belly. He was using his elbows to make his way forward. They had spotted an open window on the right side of the last car, and Alan was going to take a look through there first before risking walking into a trap. Wesley was supposed to give Alan the heads up to stick his head in, once there weren't any guards looking.

"Get ready, he's walking away," warned Leon, referring to the sentry who was patrolling that area.

Wesley nodded, but just as he was about to move in closer, gunfire erupted from the third to last car. Leon spotted a man being kicked out of that same car, and heard it's sliding door slam closed. The few guards in the area ran towards the same car, but at the same time, the train went back online. Leon could hear the engine already starting up, and realized they were in trouble. Ahead of him, Wesley turned around and yelled, "We gotta get on now!"

Leon nodded, and burst out from behind the tree towards the train. It was already beginning to pick up speed, but Wesley and Leon managed to grab one of the railings before it got away. Together, he and Wesley smashed the door open, and as it turned out the room was empty. Quickly, Wesley raced to the opposite door, opened it, climbed up to the roof, and quickly returned with Alan.

"What the hell happened?" asked Leon breathing heavily.

It took a moment for Alan to reply.

"There's someone else on board," he said finally.

Wesley looked lost. "Someone else? Who?"

Alan only nodded. More gunfire caused them all to flinch.

Alan ran towards the front of the car. "I don't know," he said. "But I'm gonna find out."

Two cars ahead of them, the Master Chief was climbing the ladder of his own car towards the roof of the train. He had had Palmer at gunpoint when another guard had appeared from behind. The Chief had knocked Palmer off of the train, and had turned around to return fire. He had managed to close the sliding doors on each side of the train, in order to protect him from gunfire. Reaching the roof, he was greeted by more bullets from his new found enemies. They were taking cover a few cars ahead of him, firing blindly. The Chief stayed standing on the ladder, using the train as protection. He fired and hit two guards easily, causing them to fall off the speeding train. He jumped back down, crossed over the car connector, and kicked the door in. He felt it smash against someone's face, but he couldn't be sure, as the car in front of him was crawling with more guards. It was a coach car, full of passenger seats, and they were using them to their advantage as cover.

"Hold here Chief," spoke Cortana's voice from inside his helmet.

The Chief left the door open, but kept his back to the wall.

"This help you were talking about. Who exactly are they?"

Cortana responded, "You guys should be meeting shortly."

Master Chief was still a little confused over everything that occurred. The last thing he remembered was being sucked into slipspace along with the Covenant cruiser before he had blacked out. He had woken up on board the train in some kind of containment capsule. He had been feeling a little nauseous, but was glad when he had heard Cortana's voice. She told him that he had been in a coma for a week now, and that she had bad news.

She always had bad news.

Apparently something had gone wrong, and since neither ships had accessed slipspace correctly, it had had caused a rip in space, and both ships had been thrust backwards. Five hundred and forty-two years backwards to be exact. Both ships had crash landed on Earth in the year of 2010, and the Master Chief's body had been recovered and brought aboard this train. Cortana would not speculate further, only telling him that these people were not his friends, and that he needed to get the hell out of there. Luckily, he had caught a break, and the stasis field had somehow shut off. He had taken the advantage, and escaped. Cortana had informed him that help should be close, but the Chief did not understand how or why she knew all this, and was desperate for answers.

Ducking down, the Chief crouch walked into the car and took cover behind the first seat. He picked off two more easy targets, but the rest had him pinned down.

"Cortana, why aren't my shields up?" he asked, just realizing it.

"I'll try to get them up for you," she answered.

"Hurry." Although the Chief had been in countless battles without his shields, he had grown dependent on them. Especially now, when he was five hundred years in the past, they could provide him with an immense advantage over his new enemies. Now that he thought about it, the whole 'warped backwards in time' thing hadn't really affected him much. Maybe it was just because he had woken up only to be thrust into action, so there hadn't really been time to think about it. Either way, it happened, and this wasn't the best time to start thing about it.

He heard the gunfire stop, and realized they must be reloading. He took advantage of the situation. Running out from behind the seat, the Chief fired upon his enemies. One had been halfway through putting in a new clip when the Chief's fire hit him right in the chest. As he moved to duck back down, he felt a tiny prick on his left arm. He had been shot. However, the damage was minimal, and he remembered where he was, and that the weapons here were nowhere near as effective as in his time.

Master Chief looked under his seat, and saw the feet of one of the mercenaries four seats ahead. He aimed his weapon under it and fired. He waited for the cries of pain before moving out again. Another soldier was just coming out of his own cover, but the Chief easily disposed of him. The car was now silent, except for the whimpering guard he had shot in the leg. Walking up to him, the Chief picked him up by his neck, opened the door of the car, and threw him out into the snow. Then he closed the door and walked back in.

"They're here," said Cortana suddenly.

At the same time the door where he had first entered the car slid open, and a man in a brown leather jacket entered quickly, wielding some sort of semi-automatic pistol. Upon laying eyes on the Chief, the man raised his weapon at him.

The Chief raised his hands in submission, and tossed his weapon to the side. Then he spoke, "Calm down, I'm not an enemy."

The man in the brown jacket looked shocked. But his face remained firm, and he asked, "Who the hell are you?"

The Chief replied, "A friend."


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **

Sorry I took so long with this one guys, but school's been killing me. Nevertheless, it's done, and I really like this one. Events are beginning to unfold, and I hope you guys are enjoying it. Here's Chapter 8.

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**- CHAPTER 8 -  
**

* * *

**Mount Elbert**

**On Board Armored Train**

The train was traveling around the mountain base at a rapid speed, a little too fast perhaps. However, this did not seem to bother Wild Dog, who was just entering the second car of the train. A squad of Palmer's men were suiting up, but Wild Dog felt a hint of nervousness in the air. He was glad the train was up and running once again, but something had happened in the back of the train, and it had all the men frightened. On top of that, Palmer was nowhere to be found himself. He was just about to contact Wesker, but wanted to have all the facts to report on.

"Who's in charge here?" he began.

The men turned to look at him. One man approached him from the right.

"I am sir, I answer directly to Lieutenant Palmer." replied the man. He saluted, then gave his rank and name. "Major Thomas Castle sir."

The man was wearing a black sash around his neck, and Wild Dog remembered that he was one of the few that had escaped the alien craft along with Palmer.

"Major, are you aware of the disturbance that occurred about the same time that the train started up?" he asked.

"Yes sir, I was just preparing another team to engage sir," replied the Major.

He did not look intimidated by Wild Dog. This was rare, but it allowed Wild Dog to respect the man a little more.

Wild Dog eyed him closely. "Engage what exactly?"

The man hesitated. "The cargo sir."

Wild Dog was confused. "The cargo?"

Major Castle nodded. "Yes sir."

"What about the cargo dammit? Speak up!" Wild Dog did not like being left out of the loop.

The man seemed hesitant, as if he did not want to believe what he was about to say. "The armored being, the cargo, somehow escaped the stasis containment field sir."

Wild Dog did not allow his surprise to show, but it was there nevertheless. He could not believe the Major's words.

"Escaped? You mean it's alive?"

Castle nodded.

"And moving?"

The Major nodded again.

_My God! _thought Wild Dog. He could not believe what he was hearing. Looking at the major's face, he could tell it was the truth, but yet it seemed absurd.

"You saw this Major?" asked Wild Dog.

The man shook his head. "No sir, but a few of the men witnessed the Lieutenant at gunpoint by the armored being."

"Gunpoint?" asked Wild Dog, shocked.

The man nodded. "Yes sir, it took out one of our men and stole his weapon."

Alarmed, Wild Dog asked, "It knows how to use our firearms?"

"It would seem so sir." said the Major.

Wild Dog scratched his chin. He was thinking about how he was going to explain this to Wesker, and how he would take it. This was an unexpected turn of events, and Wild Dog had never dealt with something like this before. He looked over at the men, who were almost done suiting up.

"You're taking in a strike team Major?" he asked.

The Major nodded. "Yes sir, a second one to be exact."

Wild Dog was startled. "What happened to the first team?"

"We lost communication with them sir."

Wild Dog did not like the way this was going. "Have your men ready in five minutes, I'll be leading them back there personally. I want this thing taken alive since we don't know what it is yet. However, if it comes to it, you have authorization to use lethal force."

The major saluted, then replied, "Yes sir, we'll be ready to move out in five."

"Good. I'm leaving you in charge during the Lieutenant's absence, but I want him retrieved before he freezes his ass off out there."

"I'll contact HQ and request a chopper to pick him up immediately," said Castle.

Wild Dog walked out of the car, and stood between the one he had just exited and the next one. He allowed the wind to hit his face as he removed his Mauser C96 'Red 9' from his coat holster. He made damn sure to check if it was loaded, and even then, he added a new clip. Besides his 'other' weapon on his left arm, the Mauser and of course his martial arts skills were Wild Dog's forte' in combat. He prided himself with that knowledge.

After returning the weapon to his coat, he entered the following car. It was empty, however Wild Dog was not surprised. He had made it extremely clear to Palmer's men that he wanted privacy whenever he contacted their employer. He approached the communication terminal, and established a direct feed to the research facility. After a few moments, Albert Wesker's face appeared on the screen.

His face was expressionless as usual, and the room he was in was dark, probably his private chamber within the research facility. Wesker was wearing the same black suit he had on when Wild Dog had first met him, as well as his trademark sunglasses. Wild Dog thought it strange that he kept them on even in the darkness of the room. Wesker spoke immediately.

"You've been out of contact for awhile Wild Dog," he said.

Wild Dog nodded. "A lot's happened sir."

Wesker's face was serious. "Tell me everything."

The armored man standing before Leon towered over him, easily standing over seven feet. He had his hands in the air, but Leon did not let his guard down. Alan and Wesley, who were flanking him from both sides had not let their eyes wander away from the newcomer. Since raising his hands, he hadn't moved an inch. Leon tried to look into his eyes, past the gold visor on his helmet, but the man was an impenetrable fortress. Leon had never seen anything like it before. His armor looked way ahead of it's time, not to mention his arrival and involvement out here. But no matter how confused or scared Leon was, he believed that he did not intend to hurt them. It took Leon a few moments to gather his bearings before he could finally speak. He didn't know anything about this guy, and he didn't want to piss him off.

"What are you doing out here?" began Leon, his voice showing no hint of wavering.

He stared directly at Leon. The fact that he could not make out his face sent a chill up his spine.

"I'd like to explain everything to you as soon as I can, but we're short on time." His voice was calm, mysteriously calm. "I'm betting that these guys are assembling another team and they'll be busting in here any minute now."

Alan spoke next. "So you're not with them?"

The armored man looked over at Alan. "Would I take out my own men?"

"I don't know, would you?" asked Wesley, ominously.

The man looked as if he was about to speak, but then stopped, as if he had heard something. Then he muttered, "Okay," before extending his right hand and opening his palm upward.

His palm, which was covered by an armored gauntlet, lit up briefly, before the form of a small holographic purple woman appeared standing on it. Leon was perplexed. He eyed the man's hand closely, not sure what exactly was going on. His surprise increased when the woman turned to face him, and then spoke to him.

"Listen, I don't know about you, but we're not very interested in dying. Now this place is about to be overrun any minute now, and you're going to need our help. You want answers? That's too damn bad. It'll have to wait until after we clear this train. Until then, an alliance with us increases our chances of survival."

Leon was speechless. From his peripheral vision he noticed that Wesley's jaw had slightly dropped. As for Alan, Leon didn't couldn't even tell what the man must be thinking. He was confused, extremely confused, and he was damn sure the others were too. However, no matter how crazy he thought he was at that moment, no matter how much his mind was racing, recent events had brought him to one final choice. _I wanna know what the hell is going on around here and I wanna know now. _

Leon lowered his weapon, and ordered the others to do the same. The armored man put his hands down. Leon picked up the rifle that was on the floor, examined it for a moment, took in what he was about to do, and tossed it over to the man, who caught it with his left hand.

"Leon, you sure about this?" asked Alan from behind him.

Leon didn't even look at him. He kept his eyes on the armored man standing right in front of him.

"No," he spoke. "I'm not."

The armored man did not move. Whether it was out of fear that Leon might have second thoughts, or that he was waiting for Leon to make the first move, Leon did not know. But what he did know, what he was sure about, was that fate had laid out this path for them, and Leon was not about to ignore it.

"Let's proceed forward," ordered Leon. "If we can get the jump on them while they're still approaching, we might just have an edge."

The man nodded, and turned to open the door. Leon's voice stopped him.

"Hey, you got a name?"

The man had his back to Leon, but he turned his neck to the left to look back with the corner of his eye. He seemed to be deep in thought, as if the question had brought up many answers. The silence was brief but awkward, but in the end all he said was, "John. My name is John." And with that he exited the car.

Leon watched him go, then turned to Alan and Wesley. "C'mon."

Neither of them said a word, and neither of them had to. The serious looks on their faces spoke a thousand words. They looked focused, determined. That was exactly how Leon wanted them to be. He turned back around, and entered the next car, where he found the armored guard looking out the window.

"How many cars long is this train?" he asked.

"I didn't really count, but I'd say around twenty, maybe seventeen or so, why?"

John faced him. "We need to get control of this train, but that means having to blast our way through a hell of a lot of men."

Wesley spoke next. "That's not the worst part."

John looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say that the man in charge here, Wild Dog, I doubt that he's in a good mood right now."

"I take it you know him?" inquired John.

Alan nodded. "Unfortunately."

John began pacing the room, obviously contemplating their next move.

"What about your friend?" asked Leon suddenly. "The girl with the attitude."

John looked at Leon, then held out his palm again.

"Excuse me?" spoke Cortana, angrily. Her holographic image reemerged on the Chief's hand.

John moved in closer to the group. "Calm down Cortana, he was asking if you could help us."

"I know what he meant Chief, don't patronize me."

Leon walked over to John. "Chief?"

But Cortana answered for him. "Yes, Spartan-117, Master Chief."

John explained. "It's my rank."

"Ah, right," responded Leon.

Cortana looked past Leon at Alan and Wesley. "I noticed you three are all using the same frequency radio for communication. In your ears right?"

"Yeah, that's right," replied Wesley.

Cortana's figure disappeared for a moment. "Hold on a sec. I think I can directly link our radio signals together so that I can talk to each of you that way."

They waited for a moment, until Leon heard a faint buzz in his ear. Then he heard Cortana's voice.

"Can you hear me?" she asked, her voice perfectly clear.

"Loud and clear," announced Alan.

"Okay good, Chief you can put me away now."

The Chief closed his hand, and returned it to his weapon.

"Okay, your best bet is to climb up on the roof and follow the train towards the front. You can engage the enemy from above, giving you a slight advantage."

Leon was already opening the door and checking for the ladder. He gave the all clear sign, and proceeded up.

"How does it look?" asked Alan, walking towards the ladder.

"The next few cars aren't passenger cars, so that'll mean less cover for them," stated Leon.

Master Chief nodded, and grabbed the ladder. However, Cortana's voice stopped him.

"Wait, something's wrong," she said.

Leon looked back down at the Chief, a look of question on his face.

"What is it?" asked the Chief.

"I'm picking up a faint reading from an unidentified object approaching from the left."

The group moved at once towards the window. Leon hadn't noticed that they were traversing around the northern part of Turqouise Lake, which now sat to the left of the train. He lowered himself back down, and joined the group at the window.

"Is it aerial?" asked Wesley, scanning the clouds.

Cortana reply came five seconds later. "Negative, it seems to be travelling by land."

That was when Leon saw it. "Look, over there!"

The Master Chief turned to the area where Leon was pointing at. On the other side of the lake, the trees of the San Isabel forest were being eaten up by some sort of machine that seemed to running straight towards the lake.

"What in the world?" exclaimed Alan, dumbfounded.

The four of them were staring out the window, ignoring the sun's rays. The giant robot looked like a mechanized version of Godzilla, moving more like an organic being than a machine. Then without warning, it jumped up and dove head first into Turqouise Lake. The splash was massive, causing a wave to rise over at least sixty feet in the air.

"I don't like this," stated Alan scanning the lake. "What the hell is that thing?"

Cortana replied, "I don't know, but it's swimming underwater and headed straight towards us."

Leon however was left without words. This was becuase he knew exactly what the machine was. He had heard about it through his connections within the government, but had never actually seen one. "Metal Gear," he said, under his breath.

Master Chief, who was standing on Leon's left, looked at him. "You look like you know something."

Leon looked down. "Maybe, but I'm not sure."

The Chief looked back out at the lake. "If it is what you think it is, is it dangerous?"

"Very," answered Leon, his eyes still trained on the floor.

Master Chief nodded. "That's all I need to know."

Cortana's voice yelled into their ears. "Collision imminent!"

As if on cue, some sort of laser beam shot out from the lake, obliterating the last car of the train. The explosion sent everyone except Master Chief to the floor. Rising back to his feet, Leon stared out towards the back of the car, which was now gone, along with the car behind it. Leon was mortified. Master Chief ran over to the back and looked out. Leon was about to say something, when an ear-piercing noise cut him off.

"It's surfacing!" yelled Cortana.

Master Chief turned back around. "Everyone hold on!"

The giant robot shot out of the water and into the air. For Leon, it seemed as if time had slowed down and given him the oppurtunity to examine the thing. His earlier comparison to Godzilla wasn't far off. However unlike Godzilla, this thing was only about fifty feet tall. It's exterior was protected by some sort of impenetrable, yet organic armor. The base of it's paint job was black, but Leon could also make out an urban camouflage design. On it's face, where the eyes would normally be was a single slit glowing an eerie bright light-blue. The arms resembled the wings of a bird whose wing's were clipped, while the legs looked like a horse's hooves. What confused Leon the most was the U.S. Navy insignia painted on it's side.

Time began to return to normal, and the mechanical monster landed behind them. The shockwave from it's landing impact rocked the entire train. If it knew the train was escaping, it showed no sign. The train was slowly pulling away from it, but it just stared at the rocky ground benath it. The group did not take their eyes off of it for one second. The wind that poured in from the destroyed rear of the car caused Leon's eyes to water. Eventually, the train rounded the corner, and the machine was out of sight completely.

"What the hell was that thing?" asked Wesley without hesitation. His voice was full of surprise.

The Master Chief finally turned around. "I don't know, but I think it's gone."

Not even a second passed after he spoke the sentence when another ear-piercing screech cut into the air.

Alan pointed towards the sky. "It's gonna crush us!"

Master Chief beckoned them forward and shouted,"Everyone move! Now!"

Leon ran at top speed into the next car, smashing through the door. He was about to stop when the Chief's voice caught his ears.

"Don't stop!" Keep moving!"

The robot landed directly onto the car they had just been in, and rendered it useless. The car connector snapped off, and caused the train to vibrate. This time, the machine did not hesitate to chase them.

"What the hell does it want!" cried Wesley out loud.

The Chief ran towards the back of the train and let loose a barrage of gunfire on the robot. However, this proved useless, as the bullets did not even graze the mechanical monster's exterior. Wesley ran up to where the Chief was firing from, crouched behind the seat next to him, and fired alongside him. From behind them, Alan and Leon did the same.

"What is it after, the train or us?" asked Alan.

Firing madly, Leon replied, "What difference does it make? We're on the damn train anyways!"

The Chief stopped to reload his rifle. "Cortana, we can't stop this thing. I need options."

Cortana's voice filled all four of the ears. "I'm analyzing it's interior structure now. You need to keep it at bay until I can find a weakness."

"You better hurry, cause it's gaining on us and I don't know how much longer it's gonna wait before it attacks us again," answered the Chief.

Leon was busy replacing a new clip when he heard Wesley cry out, "Shit! Here it comes!"

Leon turned just in time to see it leap into the air yet again, only to land on a narrow dirt that followed alongside the tracks. It began to speed up and followed the train up to it's front.

Seven cars ahead, Wild Dog had been watching from the roof of one of the cars as the robotic creature destroyed the rear of the train. Now it was next to them, and quickly making it's way up to the front. Wild Dog's strike team, both on the roof and inside the car ahead of him, unleashed a devastating assault on the enemy. Their weapons had no effect whatsoever, and seemed to aggravate the thing. Without even looking at the train, it maintained it's current running speed and raised it's left arm, aiming it at the car. Gunfire erupted from it's arm, as a storm of bullets chewed up both the car, and three of Wild Dog's men. The train was armored, but the bullets passed through it like it was made of paper. Lowering it's arm, the robot finally turned it's neck, and stared right into Wild Dog's eyes. He did not like where this was going. Not one little bit.

One of the missile tubes on the robot leviathan's back slid open, and a single missle shot out right at Wild Dog. With an astonishing amount of grace, Wild Dog leapt into the air and tore off his trenchcoat, revealing the gatling gun that replaced his left arm. The missle passed under him and exploded in the distance. Landing in a crouch, Wild Dog ordered the rest of his men to flank into the next car. Then he turned to face the robot.

"C'mon you bastard! Is that the best you got?" cried Wild Dog.

The machine seemed to react to Wild Dog's taunt, because it raised it's left arm again, this time aiming specifically at Wild Dog. Reacting with inhuman agility, Wild Dog bounded towards the rear of the train, the trail of bullets following behind him. As he ran, he morphed his arm into it's rocket launcher mode, slid to a stop, turned around towards the line of bullets, baseball slid under the hail of gunfire, and launched a missile of his own. The projectile collided with the robot's left knee. The explosion must have hit it's mark, because the robot stumbled and smashed into the side of the mountain. It let out another cry, as if it were in pain.

Wild Dog stood up and stared back at the machine. The distance between it and the train gradually grew larger. He jumped back down, and entered the car where his strike team was. Major Castle was waiting for him.

"Nice shot sir," congradulated the Major.

Wild Dog nodded in appreciation. He had seen much ass kissing in the past to know that the Major was not sucking up. The man truly had been amazaed with Wild Dog's handy work. In fact, the entire strike team looked at him in awe.

"I only slowed it down Major, this isn't over yet," replied Wild Dog.

"What was that thing?" inquired the Major.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire erupted from the next car. The entire strike team spun around and raised their weapons at the door. The radio in Wild Dog's ear clicked, and the voice of one of his men could be heard.

"Sir, we have enemy intruders on board the train. It seems that the armored life form is cooperating with them, and we had no choice but to engage."

Wild Dog extracted his Mauser from it's holster. "Hold your position soldier, we're coming in right behind you. Have you identified the intruders?"

"Yes sir," replied the soldier. "It's V.S.S.E."

Wild Dog was perplexed. "Son of a bitch," he replied, under his breath. He was speechless, but then noticed the strike team waiting for his orders. He turned towards the Major. "I want every single one of you to rush that damn car full force."

Castle nodded. "Yes sir." He turned around and yelled," Hawk Tail! Five seconds!"

The men nodded and turned around.

Wild Dog switched off the safety of his weapon and yelled,"Watch yourselves!" Then he looked at his robotic arm and said to himself, "And don't get in my way."


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **

This next chapter is specifically important. I'm introducing some new characters as well as startling information. A few more things should become clear after this next chapter. Things are beginning to heat up as the team goes up against Wild Dog, and the train arrives at the research facility.

* * *

**- CHAPTER 9 -  
**

* * *

**Umbrella Research Facility**

**Inside Mount Elbert**

The hallways were booming with activity inside the mountainous research center. Ever since the arrival of the alien life forms that were extracted from the mysterious space ship, the scientists had all been working graveyard shifts. Scientists flooded the hallways every minute with their talk of genetics and mutation. The sentries that patrolled the hallways had been reduced to runners for these researchers, fetching supplies and equipment, or just delivering messages from one lab to another. The intercom would beep every now and then, requesting that someone report to someone or someplace else. The most recent commotion however, was coming from laboratory 8.

Apparently there had been a scientific breakthrough in this particular lab, at least that's what it sounded like to Corporal Dane Mercer who had just been sent to inform the mysterious head of the facility that there was something he really needed to see. A moment ago he had been patrolling the 'A sector' of the fourth floor, when one of the researchers from lab eight jumped out of the door, almost out of breath. Mercer had moved to check it out, but the man waved him off.

"Is everything alright?" Mercer had asked.

The man had gasped for breath. "I didn't just run the entire length of this lab for no reason. Of course everything isn't alright." He had a British accent.

Mercer heard excited cheers from within.

"What's the problem?" He tried to look inside, but the man closed the door in his face.

"That's none of your concern," answered the scientist, defiantly. "Bloody American wanker."

More cheers.

"Are you sure everything's fine? Maybe I should check it out..." asked Mercer, who had been bored to death and was desperately seeking some action.

"No, no, no young man. Listen to me-" but shouts from inside had cut him off.

"Paul! Where are you?"

The man Mercer was talking to jumped at the sound of his name being called. He pressed the button for the door to open once again. Then he looked back at Mercer.

"Go and get Mr. Wesker. Tell him Dr. Connors says it it of the utmost importance that he see this himself."

And with that, Mercer had been left alone once again. He had taken the elevator down to the third floor, where he currently was.

Mercer was half running down hallway 3C when he damn near crashed right into one of his partners who had been assigned to patrol that area.

"What's the hurry Mercer?" asked the man as Mercer approached him. The man's dog tags read 'Kenneth McCarthy'.

Mercer slowed his pace but did not stop.

"Dr. Conners just sent me to get the boss," he replied, sliding his hand through his hair.

The man let out a laugh. "Connors? Again? That's the fourth time today. Is he looking to win a medal or something? I've never seen a bigger ass kisser."

Mercer smiled. "Yeah I know, but this time things seemed a little crazy in there. They were screaming and stuff.

McCarthy nodded. "I've only seen them act like that once, and that was when they got at look at their new lab here. They almost freaked. But why'd he send you? Where's the Captain?"

Mercer answered, "He took the Delta Team out to Hanger Bay 3 on Mr. Wesker's orders."

McCarthy looked puzzled. "Is something wrong?"

To be honest, Mercer had no clue. "I don't know, they never tell us shit about anything that's going on around here."

"You can say that again. Anyways, you better deliver your message quick. And watch yourself with Wesker, that guy scares the hell outta me."

"Yeah, well orders are orders. I should get moving," stated Mercer, starting up his jog once more.

"Tell me what the big news was when you get back!" yelled McCarthy from behind him.

"Will do!"

McCarthy could never possibly know that would be the last time he would see his friend alive.

Turning the corner, Mercer passed two female researchers, and slowed down to get a better look. They were discussing some files when one of them glanced up at him. Mercer quickened his pace, hiding his embarrassment. After about another minute or so, he spotted Wesker's private chambers and started towards the large double doors.

Just then, someone grabbed him from behind and broke his neck, killing him instantly. The attacker quickly hid the body in a maintenance closet, stripped Mercer of his uniform, and put it on. Then he picked up the man's weapon, poked his head out to make sure the coast was clear, and exited.

He kept a stern face as he approached the door to Wesker's chamber. He pressed the 'call' button and waited. There was silence for a few moments. Finally, Albert Wesker's voice came through.

"What is it?" came the somewhat annoyed response.

"Sir, Dr. Connors asked me to come find you. He says it's urgent"

Another pause. "Why didn't he contact me himself?"

Mercer's impostor looked up at the security camera that was monitoring him. Albert Wesker would be watching him from within.

"He's tied up at the moment sir. I was only in his lab for a second, but his team all seemed excited about something. His assistant specifically asked that you be there personally."

The silence that followed was longer than the previous two.

"Very well."

The impostor stepped back. "Do you need me to accompany you sir?"

From inside the room, Wesker shook his head. "Return to your duties soldier."

"Yes sir."

Without speaking another word, the man walked away, ducking into the following corridor. A moment later he heard the sound of footsteps exiting the chamber. Once they faded away, the man returned to the door. He extracted a device from his pouch and placed it on the exterior of the blast door that led into the private chamber. He ignored the camera since it's monitor could only be viewed from within, which was currently empty. With the device now irremovable from the door, Mercer's attacker found the nearest empty room and entered. Adjusting his radio to the correct frequency, the man established a direct feed to his real employer.

"Incoming status report," he began.

A voice at the other end replied,"How are things on your end?"

"My cover is still safe boss. No one suspects a thing."

"Good. Any facility updates?"

The impostor turned back around, then returned to the conversation. "Apparently the lead researcher here has just had a breakthrough, quite possibly the one you told me about."

His employer sounded intrigued. "Hm, a little earlier than I predicted."

"My thoughts exactly sir. However, the discovery managed to get Wesker out of his chambers long enough for me to successfully plant the device."

"Perfect. Everything is in order then?"

The impostor responded, "Yes."

"Then I will proceed to engage the facility. ETA ten minutes. That's how long you have to get out of there before all hell breaks loose. Good luck."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll be out of here by then." And with that, the man exited towards the elevator to the surface.

Albert Wesker strolled along the main corridor of his research facility at a quickened pace. As usual he wore his dark polarized sunglasses as well as his earpiece for communication purposes. He had on black trousers, and a black turtleneck, which was covered by a black suit coat. To complete his wardrobe, he donned a pair of black gloves. In addition to this, his dirty blond hair was combed neatly. He had grown accustomed to the new look and hardly wore anything different.

At the moment, Wesker was in a hurry. If Conners' discovery was the one he was thinking about, then he was anxious to get a look at it. He passed scientists and soldiers who all seemed fairly intimidated by his presence. _Good_, he thought to himself. He was not in the best of moods.

As he entered the elevator, he heard his communicator beep and pulled it out from his jacket. Switching it on, the face of Captain Kevin Miller appeared. Wesker pressed the elevator button, and the doors closed.

"Captain." said Wesker, acknowledging his presence.

"Sir, we're ready to move out on your command. Has there been any word from the train yet?"

"Yes, Wild Dog contacted me a few minutes ago. He said that all form of electronic equipment went offline, including the train."

Miller replied,"Well that explains the loss of communication with them earlier, but how exactly did it happen?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but that wasn't the bad part. It seems that they're currently under attack."

The Captain seemed confused. "Attack? By who?"

Wesker paused for emphasis, and because the elevator had reached his floor. "First he told me that the life form they were sent to retrieve was still alive and that it had attacked Lieutenant Palmer. That was the reason for the helicopter request we received, so they could go and pick him up."

"The life form is alive! But how..?"

"For now they've lost track of it because of bigger issues."

"Bigger issues sir?" asked Miller, obviously imagining the events taking place aboard the train.

"Yes Captain. Before they had a chance to apprehend the life form which we now know to be called 'Master Chief', they were attacked once more, this time by a Metal Gear."

"Metal Gear!" The Captain was stunned. "But that means-"

"Yes, he's here." Wesker could barely believe his own words.

"What are we going to do?"

Wesker had to hesitate before speaking again. "Deploy the entire battalion.

Miller was perplexed. "The- the entire battalion sir?

Wesker ignored the question. "I'm leaving them entirely in your hands Captain. When the train arrives, Metal Gear will be right behind it. I want you to destroy it at all costs."

The Captain was finding this all hard to absorb, Wesker could tell. "I'll begin preparations at once."

"Contact me when you're ready to move out." With that, Wesker ended the conversation.

He turned right into the next hallway, where Corporal McCarthy and a few others saluted him. He approached the entrance into Connors' lab and walked inside.

There were at least twelve scientists in the lab, each one either at a computer console reading some files, or frantically arguing about something. It was the exact opposite from the quiet that he enjoyed back in his room. Wesker took a moment to take in the room and locate Connors. He spotted the doctor near the rear of the lab and headed towards him. Connors was seated at the console in front of a large glass room. Next to him stood his colleague, Paul Berg, who was going over some documents. As Wesker approached, Berg noticed him and tapped Connors on the shoulder. Connors stood up immediately and greeted Wesker.

"Sir, I'm glad you're here. You're just in time," Dr. Connors greeted, readjusting his glasses, and straightening out his lab coat.

Wesker shook his hand and spoke. "Let's get this over with, Doctor, I've got other matters to attend to."

Connors smiled nervously. "Of course, right this way sir."

The doctor guided Wesker to the glass room he had noticed a moment ago. Inside was an adult deer, sniffing around the strange new world it had just been placed in. Dr. Berg stood next to Wesker while Connors approached the console.

"Prepare to be amazed sir," whispered Dr. Berg.

Wesker looked at him curiously, but did not reply.

Other researchers arrived at Dr. Connors's station as well, and began their assigned preparations. Connors finished up on the console and took his place next to Wesker and Dr. Berg.

"Let me begin by saying that in these last few days, I've witnessed feats I never would have believed possible in modern day science Mr. Wesker. The data we recovered from those vessels was extraordinary."

Wesker kept his gaze on the deer. "Happy to pay the bills doctor. Now if you'll proceed please."

Connors nodded and motioned for one of the other scientists to start the process.

"From the information we gathered this past week, we were able discern the name of the creatures we found. They were known as the 'Flood'."

Wesker was amazed with how efficient Dr. Connors and his team were. "So they were actually an alien race?"

Connors nodded. "Yes. We weren't able to pinpoint exactly how or why they arrived here on Earth, but they provided us with enough research to keep us busy for another decade."

Dr. Berg moved away from them, dimmed the lights in the lab, and started up a projector. Various notes and other information appeared on the wall. Then he began his explanation.

"We discovered that these creatures, these 'Flood', were in fact parasitic life forms. After witnessing them in action, we were able to conclude they they are not only virulent, but also extremely deadly."

Dr. Berg proceeded to flip through a few more slides containing pictures of the Flood. Then he redirected his attention back to the glass room. Dr. Connors took over from there.

"We are about to release one of our subjects into this room as a demonstration," Dr. Connors announced.

Wesker nodded in approval. Connors did not understand how the man could see in the dark with his sunglasses on, but allowed the thought to pass by quickly. He pressed a button on the wall, and the glass room lit up. Then a small portion of the roof opened up, and some sort of creature fell from it. The creature was small in size, resembling a yellow jellyfish in a way.

"This is the Flood's infection form," explained Dr. Connors. "As you can see they use their tentacles for movement, as well as infection, which you will witness in a moment."

Dr. Berg continued for him. "Not only do they have their own defined biological network, but they do not need a host to survive, unlike other variations of Flood we discovered."

Wesker watched as the creature began to make it's way towards the deer.

"It seems," continued Connors, "that these forms are responsible for seeking out any sentient life of sufficient bio-mass and calcium deposits to sustain themselves, and proceed to attempt to use that creature as a host, by burrowing into the thoracic cavity, tapping into the spinal/nervous system, suppressing the host's consciousness, and releasing spores which cause the host to mutate. At this point, the infected creature mutates into one of three possible forms: combat, carrier, or brain."

"It's pretty small, so I'm guessing that they would probably attack in swarms," surmised Wesker, folding his arms.

"Those were our thoughts exactly," agreed Dr. Connors.

The deer seemed to sense danger, because it began to move away from the alien life form. Before it could get anywhere, the infection form latched onto the deer's hind leg. The deer began to frantically run around the room, but this did not seem to affect the infection form, which was now making it's way up to the deer's body. After a few moments it began to slow down, and eventually collapsed.

"The spores are now taking effect," construed Dr Connors. "In a few moments the deer will not be able to feel much of anything."

Wesker understood. "They only paralyze the host? The spores are non-lethal?"

"Naturally. The parasite needs a living organism in order to spread and mutate," declared Dr. Berg from Wesker's left.

The Flood creature began to manifest itself within the deer, rendering it motionless.

"From this point, the infection form decides which form it will take on."

Wesker asked, "How does it do that?"

Dr. Berg answered, "It depends on whether or not the infection form deems it necessary to mutate into combat, brain, or carrier form. It all depends on who or what the host is, and what it's capabilities are."

Dr. Connors took the reigns again. "Once inside it's host, it 'plays' with it's new body until over time it mutates it by changing hormones and replacing the host's nervous system with its own tentacles. The host is still conscious as it is being controlled, but is confined to its own mind."

"Could the host ever regain control?" inquired Wesker, impressed with the display.

"We believe so," responded Dr. Berg. "However it would take a great amount of willpower from the host. If the host could somehow find a way to force the Flood out of it's body, then it could, in theory, reassert some control over its badly mutated and damaged body."

"We've begun work on a serum that can accomplish just that, but we've encountered minimal success," stated Dr. Connors.

Wesker kept his silence as he continued to watch the deer's plight. "How long does the mutation take?"

Dr. Berg replied, "Roughly twenty minutes at the least."

Once again Wesker nodded in approval. "Well doctor, I'm impressed, you've done well." He looked around the room. "You all have. This of course will not go unawarded. You have my gratitude."

The men in the room applauded, even Wesker. To be honest, he was extremely influenced by the doctor's demonstration. The Flood proved to be exactly what he was looking for. As everyone returned to their duties, Wesker pulled Dr. Connors to the side.

"Have you prepared what I asked for?" interrogated Wesker.

Connors kept his voice low. "Yes, the Flood parasite has been weaponized into samples."

"How many?"

"Three," answered Connors. "They are in the vault."

"Excellent. And how many more of these Flood do you have locked up doctor?"

"We have fifteen in quarantine now."

Wesker replied, "I want them to stay there. From what you've shown me, these things can pretty much spread into a large population quickly. I don't want any accidents occurring, got it?"

"Of course sir."

Wesker patted him on the back. "Good work today doctor." He exited the room without another word.

Master Chief's mind was racing as he tried to take in his environment. He was currently pinned down behind one of the many protective barricades on the train's rooftop. After witnessing Wild Dog take on the mysterious robot, they had been taken by surprise by another wave of soldiers. Leon had proposed splitting up, and so they had. Alan and the Chief had climbed up onto the roof while Wesley and Leon proceeded through the car. As the Chief and Alan had boarded this particular car, Wild Dog appeared and activated a pair of machine gun turrets. Within minutes, the Chief had destroyed one of them, but Wild Dog intensified his assault by engaging them up close. Master Chief had tried to keep him distracted long enough to allow Leon to advance downstairs, but Wild Dog quickly retreated and jumped down to stop them from moving. On top of that, Wild Dog was laughing like a maniac and it was beginning to get on Master Chief's nerves. Besides Wild Dog and the remaining turret, there were only two more soldiers on the roof. Alan was quick to dispatch of both of them, making the battle fairly simpler.

Downstairs it was a different story completely. The majority of Wild Dog's strike team was crammed into this one car, and they were all gunning for Leon and Wesley. The pair were slowly making their way forward, but each time they had, Wild Dog would show up and push them back. It was all one big power struggle.

"Shit!" yelped Leon.

He had been grazed by a stray bullet on his right shoulder. Wesley shot up from behind one of the passenger seats and caught two men in the face.

"You okay?" asked Wesley, firing wildly.

Leon examined the wound. It was a minor scratch. Although it stung like hell, to Leon it was like hitting the side of the train with a pebble.

"I'll live," assured Leon. He then returned his attention to the situation. "Get ready, I'm gonna use a grenade. On my signal we move three rows ahead."

"You've had that all this time and you decide to use it now?"

Leon nodded. "I didn't want to risk it, but I guess we've got no choice now."

"Alright, just say the word," declared Wesley.

Leon removed the grenade from his belt and pulled the pin. It made a soft 'clang' as hit the ground. Holding the trigger down with his left hand, and his weapon in the other, Leon said, "Get ready."

He rose from his hiding position, fired off a couple of shots, and tossed the grenade to the very end of the car where it struck the wall before hitting the ground. Only one of the men realized what had just happened, but it was too late. Within three seconds, the explosive device detonated, obliterating that entire half of the car.

"Move!" screamed Leon almost immediately. With Wesley in the lead, the two made their way forward.

"Looks like that took care of them," Wesley announced, surprised. "Those things must really pack a punch."

Leon lowered his weapon. "Standard issue. I love it."

Wesley examined the area where the grenade had exploded. "It blew a hole in the floor, you can see the tires."

At that moment, gunfire erupted up on the roof. Moments later, Cortana's voice came through over their radios.

"If you guys are done down there, the others are in a bit of trouble." Her tone had a degree of sarcasm in it.

"We're heading up now," assured Leon. Then he pointed at the hole. "Jump."

Wesley did just that, followed by Leon. As they exited the car, Wesley instantly recognized the laughter that had now joined the gunfire in filling the air.

"That son of a bitch is causing hell up there," stated Leon scanning the air.

Wesley jumped up onto the ladder, clambered up to the roof within ten seconds, and spotted their enemy. He was standing with his back to Wesley as he fired on the Chief and Alan who were on the opposite side of the car. Luckily there were two more barricades on this side as well, which provided Leon and himself with some cover. Wesley thought that they had the element of surprise, but he soon discovered this to be false. At once, Wild Dog whirled around, caught them in his sights, and fired with his Mauser.

"I was wondering when you were finally gonna join us!" he yelled.

Wild Dog extended his arms, one facing Alan and the Chief, and the other facing Leon and Wesley. He fired at the Chief and Alan with his chain gun arm, and used the Mauser to attack Wesley and Leon. He had all four of them pinned down, however that wouldn't last much longer.

"Chief, I got your shields running again," announced Cortana suddenly.

Leon and Wesley obviously had no clue what she was talking about, but Alan, who was right next to the Chief, understood perfectly. A yellowish glow appeared around the Master Chief's armor, causing Alan's eyes to widen. The Chief looked down at himself to make sure she was right. Of course she was.

Turning to Alan, he said, "Cover me," before jumping over the barricade and barreling towards Wild Dog.

At the moment he noticed the Chief coming at him, Wild Dog concentrated all his firepower on him. As the bullets made contact with the Chief's shield, they turned a bright red, which meant they were taking damage. This did not slow the Chief down one little bit. At the last second before he could tackle Wild Dog, the man burst into the air. Alan, Leon, and Wesley, who were now free to leave cover, opened fire on him. He landed on the next car and had to transform his arm into it's laser sword mode in order to deflect the fire. Infuriated at how he had been taken by surprise, he reactivated the turret and targeted Master Chief.

The Chief recognized the trigger from the last time Wild Dog had used it. Whirling around, he saw the turrent start up and take aim at him. His shields weren't fully charged, but he thought he could pull it off. Running at full speed, the Chief ignored the heavy firepower that was trying to supress his attack. The turrent never stood a chance. Jumping on top of it, Master Chief punched three holes through the turrent's thick exterior, and ripped out whatever he could. The machine deactivated instantly.

Leon had been watching from across the car, and was left speechless.

Wild Dog too was left wide-eyed. It took him a moment to realize he was still in the middle of a battle, and was about to pursue, when he glimpsed something in the sky. At the same time, he heard the rotors of a chopper approaching from behind him.

"Wild Dog!" bellowed Wesley. "Its over! There's nowhere else to go!"

Wild Dog could not believe what he was hearing. He turned to face the group. All four of them had their weapons aimed at him.

"You're finished Wild Dog," spoke Alan. "Give it up."

The nerve of them, expecting someone like himself to just come quietly. It was absurd. Wild Dog exploded in laughter.

"What's so funny?" asked the Chief, annoyed.

Wild Dog looked at him. "You are tin man. You and you're friends. I would never allow myself to be taken prisoner without a fight. Especially not by V.S.S.E. It's beneath me."

"We've got you outnumbered," countered Alan. "What more do you plan to accomplish?"

Wild Dog roared with laughter once again. "You really are an idiot if you think your numbers intimidate me. I wouldn't give a damn if you had an entire army with you. I'll die before I ever surrender myself to the likes of you."

"Your pride is your weakness Wild Dog," declared Leon. "I've met plenty of guys just like you."

"Don't think you can preach to me. Your words mean nothing. Besides, if you think you've won this battle, you're getting a little ahead of yourself."

At that moment, the giant robot that had plagued them before landed behind the train once again. It's impact rocked the Earth. At that same time, a chopper arrived and Wild Dog jumped inside.

"He's getting away!" exclaimed Wesley, pointing at the escaping helicopter.

"We've got bigger problems," answered Master Chief. He was staring back at the robot. "Leon, what did you say this thing was called?"

Leon was startled. "Metal Gear."

"Cortana, see what you can find out about this thing and get back to me."

"I'm on it," she replied.

Leon spoke next. "We're the only ones left on board. What now?

"It would be nice to know where we were headed to," asserted Wesley.

Alan contemplated the remark. "I'm pretty sure they keep a log of all the train's stops and destinations in the front car. If I could access the primary grid, I think I could track all that information down."

"And if you can't, Cortana can," Master Chief put in.

They all agreed on this and climbed back down. From the inside, they could just barely make out Metal Gears legs pounded the ground behind them.

"Why isn't it attacking us?" pondered Leon.

Master Chief had been wondering the same thing, and had arrived at a conclusion.

"You didn't notice?" asked the Chief.

Leon looked at him quizzically. "Notice what?"

"The only time it ever really attacked was when it saw Wild Dog."

Wesley responded, "Yeah, he's right. I mean, it did bang up the train pretty bad, but in terms of people, it pretty much ignored us and the rest of the men on board."

Master Chief nodded. "All the damage it caused to the train was in an attempt to hit Wild Dog."

"I guess that makes sense," said Leon. "But why?"

"I don't know, but for right now it doesn't seem to be doing much of anything," stated Alan.

Leon replied, "Maybe it's looking for him now."

"If that's the case, then we should take advantage of its immobility and get to work," declared the Chief. "Alan, you and Wesley head to the front and see what you can do there. Leon and I will gather whatever supplies and equipment we can find."

The four of them agreed and split up.

"Wild Dog, what in the world have you been up to?"

Albert Wesker had never sounded more upset. Looking at him now, through the communication screen on board the rescue chopper, even Wild Dog shuddered.

"There was an unexpected turn of events sir," explained Wild Dog.

"You said you had it under control!"

Wild Dog did not like being spoken to like an animal.

"There were intruders on board the train. Most of my team had been killed by Metal Gear so I was on my own. Before I could finish the job, it returned. I was forced to flee."

"I thought you said you neutralized it," asked Wesker, sounding irritated.

"So did I sir."

Wesker stayed silent for a moment. "What's Lieutenant Palmer's condition?" Palmer was seated across from Wild Dog in the rear of the helicopter. He had been retrieved in perfect condition from the snow field and had ordered the pilot to head towards the train. It was that action that probably saved Wild Dog's life.

"I'm fine sir, just a little cold. You know how it is out here."

Wesker nodded. "As soon as you both arrive I need you to join Captain Miller out on the runway."

Palmer looked confused, so Wesker elucidated. "Wild Dog if you hadn't already noticed, Metal Gear was after you and you alone."

"I did notice sir. But why?"

"Because the person who sent it after you is trying to get to me. My sources indicate that he's planning an assault on the facility. If that happens I need you both here in top condition ready to fight."

"But what about the train?" It was Palmer who had asked.

"I've got a squadron ready to intercept them when they arrive at the facility. For now, worry about your own tasks. You'll be touching down in five minutes, I expect you to be standing next to Miller in fifteen. Contact me once you are." And with that he logged out.

Palmer looked down at the floor. "Sir, I'd really like to know everything that's happened in my absence. What happened to Major Castle?"

Wild Dog stared out the window. "I think you already know Lieutenant."

He was right, Palmer did know. Every single one of the men on board the train was dead, and Palmer had known each and every one of them. "What happened to the alien life form we discovered?"

Wild Dog told him everything that had occurred since he was knocked off the train. By the end of the explanation, the Lieutenant's mind was racing with questions.

"So we have an alien whose allied himself with the enemy?" asked Palmer.

Wild Dog nodded. "And he's a pretty decent fighter too."

They stayed silent for a moment. Then another thought passed through Palmer's mind. "Sir, do you really think that the facility will be attacked?"

"I'm positive. I've heard about this guy plenty of times to know that we're gonna have our hands full."

From the looks of it, Wild Dog seemed to be anticipating the attack. As for Palmer himself, he was not so enthusiastic.

Back on the train, Leon and Master Chief had been in the middle of scavenging weapons from the dead soldiers, when Cortana's voice came over their earpieces.

"I've managed to obtain some intel on Metal Gear," she announced.

The pair continued gathering weapons.

"Let's hear it," responded the Chief.

"Leon, you guessed right, it is a Metal Gear. Metal Gear RAY to be exact."

Leon nodded as he clipped a grenade onto his belt.

Cortana continued. "In case you're wondering Chief, a Metal Gear is a nuclear equipped bipedal tank. There have been different variations of Metal Gear, but the one outside seems to be the latest model. The most prominent difference being that unlike the rest, this one was not designed as a nuclear launch platform.

"That's a relief," stated the Chief.

"It can be piloted manually from inside its cockpit, or it can be controlled using an AI. It is deployed primarily for conventional warfare, and was used to hunt down other Metal Gear units and destroy them. A prototype of RAY was being transported inside a U.S. Marines tanker three years ago, when terrorists boarded the ship just off the Hudson River in New York City and stole the prototype. The person responsible for this was a man named Revolver Ocelot."

"Ocelot?" asked Leon suddenly. "The former FOXHOUND member?"

"Yes," responded Cortana. "Over the course of the next two years, RAY was redesigned, and twenty five other models were mass produced. These mass produced versions were created specifically for protection purposes."

"Protection purposes?" stated Master Chief. "Protection for what?"

"I don't know, that's all I could find."

Leon spoke again. "How do we fight this thing?"

There was a pause, and then she spoke once more. "This model outside seems to be one of the mass produced models. It seems that the mass produced variants are much less durable than the prototype version. It's primary weakpoint is inside it's mouth. Whenever it screams, it opens its mouth. The knees are weak as well, so by damaging the knees, you can in turn cause it to scream, giving you a shot at it's mouth."

"That explains how Wild Dog was able to hurt it," Leon pointed out.

"At least we know a little bit more about what we're up against here," stated the Chief.

Before they could go on, Wesley's voice came over the radio.

"Guys, get up here quick, you've gotta see this."

Leon had just finished fully loading a shotgun he had found, and tossed it to the Chief. He picked up another one and loaded that one too.

"Thanks," said the Chief gratefully.

From there they crossed the train to the front, where they found Alan hard at work at a computer console.

"What's the problem?" asked Leon, entering the car.

Alan brought up a map of the entire San Isabel Forest, including Mount Elbert. "Check it out, I managed to find the train's path."

Wesley continued for him. "The tracks circle the mountain, and only make one stop, here." He pointed at the northeast section of the mountain.

"What's there?" inquired Leon.

"Some sort of research facility. It's built into the mountain, so that's why no one has ever seen it before. They train makes it's stops there. That's where it refuels, and that's where it resupplies."

"That's probably where they were taking the Chief too," announced Cortana.

Leon pointed at the map.

"Is that..a runway?"

Wesley nodded. "Yup, these guys have their own airfield and everything."

"Look, we should be getting there within the next few minutes," pointed out the Chief.

Alan agreed. "He's right. Whatever we've been looking for, we'll find it there."

Wesley replied, "But I don't think they're gonna be in the best of moods. I mean we did take over their train."

Leon concurred. "Not to mention RAY back there, ready to blow something up at any moment."

"WARNING ENEMY CONTINGENT APPROACHING!"

It was Cortana who relayed the message.

"Speak of the Devil," murmured Alan.

"Okay guys this is our stop," said Leon. "We've got plenty of weapons back there, so let's put them to good use."

In ten minutes the group was armed and ready for combat. They met up on the roof of the first car just as the facility came into view.

"This is it guys!" yelled Leon. As the facility became closer, so did the runway. Apparently, the building that the train stopped in was separate from the facility and was located at the very end of the airstrip.

From behind them came Metal Gear's screech. They turned just in time to see it jump over the entire train, and towards the runway. That's when they noticed it.

"Oh my God," said Leon under his breath.

Approaching the train station from the runway was an immense battlion consisting of tanks, hummers, helicopters, and an AV-8 Harrier II jet fighter, which had just soared over their heads. The military squadron was big enough to take over a decent sized city.

"Cortana, what's the size of that regiment?" asked the Chief, surveying the area.

"About one-half of a private military company."

The four of them shuddered. At the same time, Metal Gear RAY had just arrived at the runway. It made one final leap into the air, when suddenly, something caught Leon's eye. For a split second he could have sworn that the sun had been eclipsed for a moment. When he looked up, all the color drained out of him. In the middle of the air was a horde of at least thirty Metal Gear RAY units, all in mid-jump. They landed in the center of the battalion, and together they let out one single, unified roar. Instantly, gunfire erupted from the area. The runway had become a war zone as choppers, tanks, and jet fighters all concentrated their firepower on the swarm of Metal Gears that had just arrived. The scene reminded Leon of the movie 'War of the Worlds', as the RAY units resembled the alien tripods from the film, which destroyed everything with their laser beams.

"Jesus Christ! We're heading right into that nightmare!" It was Wesley who had spoken.

They RAY units moved swiftly through the ranks of the battalion, blasting and crushing anything and everything. It was the biggest showdown any of them had ever witnessed.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Alan.

The train was just pulling into the station when the Chief spoke.

"This is just what we needed. The battalion isn't even focused on us anymore. We can use this distraction to our advantage."

Leon agreed. "He's right, if we can keep away from the battle, we can circle around the airstrip and reach the facility."

They hopped off of the train when it stopped, and secured the area.

"We're good," announced Wesley. "There's a truck here I think I can start up."

Leon nodded and replied, "Get to it."

Moments later, they were barreling down the runway towards the facility.

From across the runway, Solid Snake was watching as the group entered the truck. He lowered his binoculars and turned his attention to the chaos that was taking place a few yards away.

"I know you're here Liquid," he said to himself. Then he started up his own truck and switched on his codec. "Otacon, I'm moving in."

And with that he pressed the pedal all the way down, and manuevered the vehicle directly into the battle.


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

Okay, I finally decided to keep _Infinite Gambit _under Game Crossovers and there it shall remain (Thanks for the input Lezard). That's where the story began and that's where it'll end. I got my first reviews and readers there as well, so my thanks goes out to you guys.

On another note, I've begun work on my second story, which is basically a Samurai Jack/Link crossover. I still haven't decided on a title yet but be on the lookout for it.

As far as this chapter goes, the fog behind the entire scheme should just about diminish and motives will become clear. This is a turning point in the story, so be forewarned.

* * *

**- CHAPTER 10 -  
**

* * *

**Umbrella Research Facility**

**Mount Elbert**

What had only moments ago been a peaceful and quiet environment, had erupted into a major panic. The hallways of the subterranean superstructure were crowded as scientists and soldiers alike made their way towards the nearest exit. The roof had begun to cave-in and the power had gone out. People were frantically rushing through the corridors, never realizing that they were trampling their own colleagues. To sum it all up, the facility had been thrust into utter chaos.

When the Metal Gear RAY invasion had begun, Lieutenant Palmer had sounded the alarm, and ordered his men to supervise the evacuation process to make sure that it went smoothly. However this was obviously not the case, as most of his men were either up on the runway with him, or running for their lives. There was absolutely no control in the underground silo.

"All personnel please proceed to the nearest evacuation facility. This is not a drill."

The female voice repeated this message every ten seconds over the P.A. system.

But no matter how horrible the situation was, no matter how many people were being killed just attempting to escape from that doomed place, nothing would even come close to the nightmare that was about to befall Dr. Connors and his team in laboratory eight.

"Can anyone hear me?" Dr. Connors was yelling into the lab's communication console. "This is Doctor Curtis Connors. My team and I are trapped in Lab 8. We need help! Hello!" But there was no reply.

He tried different channels, but they were either busy or unoccupied. "Bloody hell," he muttered.

Realizing he was getting nowhere, Dr. Connors made his way back to the door, where most of his team was gathered. The door hadn't been responding when the 'open' button was pressed, so they were trapped inside.

"Anything?" inquired Robert Ellis, another co-worker.

Connors shook his head. "Nobody answers the bloody radio. Some pretty big shyte must be going on upstairs." Looking past him, he noticed Dr. Berg had opened up the door's security console and was tampering with some wires. "How's it going there mate?"

Dr. Berg looked back at him. "This thing short circuited to security level Delta," he announced. "We're gonna be here for awhile but I think I can get it open." His tone then changed to grief. "How are Teri and Victor?"

Connors shook his head with remorse. "Gone."

Dr. Berg nodded understandingly. Two of their colleagues, Teri Gaines and Victor Myers had both been crushed when a section of the roof caved-in. Dr. Berg had been very close to Teri, and Connors could tell the death had afflicted him greatly.

"I'm sorry, Paul."

Dr. Berg sighed. "So am I," he replied, and returned to his work.

Dr. Connors let out his own sigh, sharing in the grief. "You gonna be alright there, mate?"

Dr. Berg nodded without looking at him, and Connors did not pursue the subject further. Over the next hour and a half, the remaining researchers split into groups. Dr. Connors sat next to Dr. Berg and chatted with him as he gnawed away at the security walls on the door's locking mechanism, while Dr. Ellis had taken the remaining two men into the specimen containment chamber to check up on things there.

"They've been gone awhile Curt," stated Dr. Berg, after getting through another level of security.

He was right, Ellis and the others had left nearly forty-five minutes ago and they still had not returned.

"You know how Ellis is, everything by the book," said Connors, referring to Robert's slow pace. "Either way, I'd better check up on them, you finish up here."

"It shouldn't be much longer," declared Dr. Berg.

Connors strode across the wrecked lab to the door marked 'Specimen Containment'. As he did, the radio crackled to life. Ignoring the room for a moment, he walked over to the communicator and tried to clear up some of the static. After a minute, the message came through, but in pieces.

"Curt...creatures...escaped...containment breach...others...dead...headed...your direction...outta there!"

At the same time the message concluded, an explosion from specimen containment rocked the lab.

Dr. Berg yelled from the other side of the room, "What the hell was that?"

"I don't bloody know, wait here!" Connors grabbed a flashlight from his desk drawer and approached the room. He had to manually slide the door open on account of the power outage. Switching on the light, he entered the room. He strided down the long passageway, aiming the light at the glass cages on either side. There was glass shattered across the metal floor, and Connors realized that many of the cages were broken. He continued down the hallway until he spotted blood and the floor.

Approaching the spot with caution, he followed the trail of blood with the light. It led him to the mutilated corpse of Robert Ellis, sprawled on the ground. Where his digestive system had once been, was now replaced by a gaping hole. Connors was horrified, and had to look away. By doing this, he spotted the other two men's bodies in a similar fashion. That was when it hit him. Judging by the way the bodies were dismembered, the cause of death became clear to him. A sharp howl from above confirmed his fears. Aiming the light upwards, he was able to identify Dr. Ellis' killer, a Flood Combat Form up on the rafters, which was now glaring at Connors, snarling maniacally. Around it, Infection Forms began crawling down the wall towards him. He was frozen in place, and scared stiff. It wasn't until the creature roared again that he was able to muster up enough courage to move.

Running back towards the lab, he slid the door closed in a frenzy. From behind him, he heard the lab door open.

"I got it!" exclaimed Dr. Berg.

"We have to leave now," Connors remarked, walking quickly towards him.

Dr. Berg gave him a puzzled look. "Where are the others?"

Connors approached the door, and realized it had only barely risen. "That's it?"

"It won't go up any further," he answered.

Connors got on his knees and looked under the door. "Can we fit through there?" he asked, sounding troubled.

"I think so, yeah. Curt, what's wrong?"

Connors looked up at him. "The Flood have escaped, Ellis is dead."

"Oh my God."

Connors began crawling under the door. "They'll be bursting through that door any minute now."

Dr. Berg waited as Connors fit himself through the tight space. As Dr. Berg began to make his way under, the specimen containment door flew off its hinges behind him. A moment later, something pulled him from under the door.

"Paul!" cried Dr. Connors. But his friend was gone. A minute later, so was he.

One floor above, Albert Wesker was preparing his departure from the compound. He had recovered the Flood virus sample from the vault shortly before the battle upstairs had begun. The three vials now rested in a reinforced suitcase on Wesker's chair.

Since the power had gone out, Wesker was forced to upload all of his personal files to his laptop, which he then sent in an email to his associates. When he was finished, he closed the laptop, picked it up, and smashed it against the wall. Then he walked over to his desk and extracted two weapons. The first was a silenced pistol, which he placed in his chest holster under his jacket. The second was his laser equipped 'Killer7' .45 magnum, which he kept in his right hand. He checked it to make sure it was loaded, scooped up his suitcase, took one last look to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything, and exited.

He strode down through the facility at a quickened pace, ignoring the ranks of men and women rushing past him. Dust fell from the roof, and as the battle upstairs intensified, the ceiling began to collapse. Dead bodies were littered throughout the complex, but none of these things seemed to matter to Wesker. Turning the corner of the next corridor, he noticed that this next passageway was empty. Ignoring the elevators, he continued down the hall. His destination was Lab 3N, which was where he would make his escape. Inside the lab was a hidden passageway that paralleled the runway to its end. It led to a cargo elevator, which would take him up to an abandoned hangar. That was where his chopper would be waiting.

Realizing he was in no real hurry, he slowed his pace. It was then that he understood he was not alone.

"Hello Wesker," spoke a voice from behind him. The female voice was one Wesker had not heard in over six years. He always knew he would see her again, but never expected that time to be now.

"Ada," replied Wesker, acknowledging her presence.

From behind him, the voice of Ada Wong spoke again. "It's been awhile."

"Yes, it has." Wesker gripped his Killer7 a little tighter.

Noticing this smallest of movements, Ada warned, "Don't even think about it."

Wesker smiled to himself and allowed the weapon to drop to the dusty floor. Turning around he responded, "Still as perceptive as ever Ada." He was looking into her eyes, and into the barrel of her handgun. His smile was gone.

"Still wearing the glasses huh?" she asked.

Wesker chuckled. "What is that? You're favorite dress?"

Ada laughed. "You still got a knack for disappearing when things get rough too. You haven't changed a bit."

Wesker frowned. "Don't act so surprised. I know you've been keeping tabs on me ever since you left me for Outer Heaven."

The comment stunned Ada.

"What, did you really think I'd let you slip through my fingers so easily Ada? I knew you were in contact with them months before you betrayed me."

She raised her eyebrow. "Really? Then why did you continue to trust me?" She felt a small vibration, and dust rained down from the roof. "I think someone's just a sore loser."

Wesker ignored her and held up the suitcase. "You're here for this?"

Her eyes locked onto the metallic case. "Depends on what's inside."

"I think you already know."

Ada gripped her weapon with both hands and spoke again. "Put it down and turn around."

Wesker stared at her for a moment, then placed the case down and took a step back.

"I said turn around."

Wesker didn't move. "Are you going to shoot me, Ada?"

Her weapon fired and a bullet whizzed by inches from his ear. Wesker remained motionless.

"You wanna try that again?" she asked, grinning.

Slowly, Wesker obeyed her command and turned around. Immediately he felt her approaching him. He could smell the faint odor of her rare perfume. It was the same type she had worn six years ago.

"So whatever happened to my Plagas sample?" inquired Wesker suddenly.

"Your sample? That's funny."

At that moment, he could feel her directly behind him. In one swift motion, he whirled around, grabbed her wrists as they were locked around her firearm, and held them over her head.

"Is it?" he asked, his voice suddenly taking on a much darker tone.

Before Ada could even realize that the tables had turned, Wesker drove his knee hard into her stomach. She let out a cry of pain as she fell on her hands and knees, and her gun clattered to the floor. Wesker bent down next to her and grabbed her by the hair, pulling on it tight. He forced her face next to his.

"How about now? You find this funny too you double-crossing bitch?" Wesker was seething. "How about when you screwed me over and stole my sample? That's right _my_ sample. The one I should have had a long time ago before you betrayed me."

Ada had never felt so scared before in her entire life. She had forgotten who she had been dealing with, and had let her guard down. She tried to look into Wesker's eyes, but his glasses prevented her. Although he clearly sounded angry, his face was empty of emotion. It was as expressionless as the last time she had seen him, and it was right then and there that she realized this man was no longer human, not anymore. She had promised herself that she would never find herself in this position, and yet here she was at the mercy of Albert Wesker, the man who held her responsible for ruining his plot six years ago, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do.

"I really hope Outer Heaven was worth it, at least for your sake. He must of known this would happen, sending you to deal with me personally."

Wesker stood up, keeping his grasp on her hair tighter than ever. The pain on her neck was horrible. If he pulled any harder, he would rip her head off. She wasn't too doubtful about that either. He stared at her with disgust and contempt for a few seconds more, and then thrust her to the dirty floor. Then he picked up his Killer7 and checked his watch. _I've got time_, he told himself.

Wesker pointed the gun at her face and spoke what he thought would be his last words to Ada. "For the record Ada, I am a sore loser."

Before he could ever pull the trigger, a shot rang out from behind him, and a bullet caught him in his lower back. If it wasn't for his body armor, he'd probably be severely injured. Nevertheless, it was the second time in less than five minutes that he had been taken by surprise, and he was beginning to get aggravated.

Wesker turned to fire upon his attacker, but whoever that person was got to him first. His assailant kicked Wesker's Killer7 out of his hands and stuck him in the face. Wesker barely felt it, and quickly ascertained the situation. With his right leg, he performed a leg sweep, and took his enemy down. Wesker heard the man grunt, but it was too dark to see his face. The man recovered just as Wesker got to his feet, and tackled Wesker, pinning his back against the wall. Wesker closed his hands into a ball and smashed them down on his opponent's back. He then kicked the man in the chest and sent him flying into the opposite wall. Wesker clenched his fist and delivered one of the hardest punches he had ever thrown at the man's head. The man dodged at the last second, and Wesker punched through the wall.

His enemy took this opportunity to deliver a few punches of his own into Wesker's stomach. Wesker absorbed most of the blows, and his armor did the rest. Ferociously, he pulled his arm out of the wall, taking a chunk of it with him. He stopped his opponent's next two blows by grabbing the man's hands, and headbutting him. The man staggered back, and Wesker took advantage of it. He grabbed the man by his jacket, smashed him against the wall, and then hurled him across the hallway. He heard movement from behind him and noticed Ada retrieving her weapon. He walked over to her, grabbed her by the throat, and hurled her across the hall in a similar fashion.

From behind him, his opponent placed him in a chokehold, but this lasted only about ten seconds as Wesker flipped the man over his back and onto the floor. Spinning around with a surprising amount of agility, the man leg swept Wesker, taking him by surprise. Wesker was getting fed up with this and pulled out his silenced pistol. Rising to his feet he turned to aim the gun at his adversary, but instead found himself staring into the eyes of Leon Kennedy and the barrel of his Blacktail handgun.

Not even Wesker had been prepared for this, and he let his shock show. By the look on Leon's face Wesker could tell he wasn't the only one.

Wesker spoke first. "Well now, this is certainly an interesting turn of events."

Leon's face turned from surprise to anger. "Wesker? You're behind this?"

Wesker smiled. "That was you on the train. Wild Dog told me we had intruders but I never would have imagined running into you. At least not here, and certainly not now."

Leon kept a stern face. "I should have known from the moment I boarded that train that you had something to do with this. This whole thing has Umbrella written all over it."

"Yeah well I'm not the only one, at least not this time."

Leon gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Wesker pointed past him towards Ada. "Ask her."

Neither of them lowered their weapons and they never took their eyes off each other.

"It's her boss that started all this. Those are his Metal Gears up there."

Before they could continue the conversation any longer, the end of the hallway exploded, leaving a large hole in the ground. From it sprang out a swarm of Flood Infection Forms, followed a group of at least a dozen Combat Forms.

"Great," muttered Wesker, looking back at the creatures. Turning around he said, "These things don't play nice, so if you're expecting to escape with your lives, I suggest you do it now."

And with that he ducked into a nearby office leaving Leon alone with Ada. The combat forms were extremely agile and were quickly gaining on the pair.

Running up to Ada, Leon helped her to her feet. "C'mon, we gotta move!"

Ada staggered to her feet and picked up her weapon.

"I always said you should use knives, Ada. You okay to run?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Good," stated Leon. "Let's go."

As they sprinted down the hall, Ada looked back searching for the suitcase, but it was gone.

"Cortana, I'm on the third floor, where are the others?"

Cortana's voice crackled over his radio. "We're near the armory. The Flood have us pinned down."

"Yeah I know, I've got a few of them behind me now. I'm close to your location, wait up for me."

As they turned into the next corridor, an infection form lunged at them. Leon fired at it, and the creature exploded mid-air.

Making sure the coast was clear, Leon continued down the hallway cautiously.

"What are those things?" asked Ada from behind him.

"What, like you don't know?"

Ada kept her pace behind him. "As a matter of fact I don't, but by the looks of it, I'm guessing you do."

Leon replied, "I'm well informed."

Ada smirked. "I'll bet."

The following hallway was blocked off by a large pile of rocks that had caved-in.

"Shit," remarked Leon. They were trapped.

At the same time, the army of Flood behind them had just rounded the corner.

Together, Leon and Ada fired at the creatures, picking off the infection forms easily. The combat forms were a different story.

"We can't hold these things off much longer!" exclaimed Ada, reloading her weapon.

"The hell we can't!" he replied, unclipping an incendiary grenade from his belt. He tossed the explosive at the horde of creatures that were pouring into the passageway. "Go!"

The two of them dashed towards the creatures, just as the grenade exploded, and dove through the flames. They ducked into the next hallway and encountered no more Flood. After another minute or so, they heard gunfire from the next hallway. Leon noticed a sign on the wall that read 'Armory', with an arrow pointing down that same hallway.

He turned the corner and spotted Master Chief unloaded shotgun shells into a mob of Flood.

"We're almost there Ada," said Leon. When he received no reply, he turned around. Ada was gone.

He searched the hallway, but there was no sign of her.

_Ada, what is going on around here?_, thought Leon. Realizing that the Chief needed help, he let it go and rushed to the Chief's side.

"Cortana, I need you to locate someone for me," stated Leon.

"Name?"

Leon reached the Chief and helped him dispatch any Flood that got close. "Albert Wesker."

Albert Wesker stood motionless in the darkness of the underground elevator shaft, as the lift rose to the surface. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out his communicator and established a connection.

"HUNK, its me. How far are you?"

The voice at the other end replied, "We're heading to your position now, ETA ten minutes max."

"I'm reaching the surface now, don't keep me waiting."

"Yes sir. Any complications?"

Wesker looked towards the top of the shaft and could just barely make out sunlight. "I'd rather tell you in person."

He switched the device off and returned it to his pocket. After a few more seconds, the lift reached the top. The gate slid open, and he stepped out. He scanned the area to make sure it was clear, then proceeded into the interior of the hangar.

The building had not been used in years, and it showed. Two decaying war planes inhabited the center of the area, plus a demolished tank in the rear. The roof was somewhat destroyed, and the hangar doors lie tattered on the ground. Decrepit storage containers were lined along the interior of the hangar.

Wesker took a moment to breath in the cold air. He had not felt a breeze in nearly two weeks. After a few minutes, a jeep arrived, and Wild Dog stepped out.

"I got your message, I take it we're leaving this place for dead?"

Wesker nodded. "Its served its purpose, and I've got no more use for it. " He glanced at Wild Dog's arm and noticed that it was badly damaged. "How bad is it?"

Wild Dog turned back towards the runway, then at his mechanical arm. "We barely took down two of them, and as for this I can have it repaired in no time." He tapped on it a few times. "You've got us a chopper?"

"Should be arriving shortly," Wesker answered, staring up at the clouds.

Wild Dog approved. "This place was beginning to bore me anyways." He began to walk towards Wesker, when suddenly, a knife whizzed by and landed on the ground in front of them.

Wesker craned his neck upwards and spotted someone leaping across the catwalks at breakneck speed. Whoever this person was, they moved more like an animal than human.

"I made sure no one saw me leave," declared Wild Dog in a hushed voice. He extracted his Mauser and began surveying the intruder's movements.

Wesker pulled the knife out of the ground and examined it. "Standard model USMC KA-BAR knife," stated Wesker. "You weren't followed, he was already here."

Wild Dog wasn't fully sure what he was talking about, and instead kept his focus on the enemy. He ran over to one of the wrecked aircrafts, and jumped on top of it.

"You wanna play games!" cried Wild Dog, and fired savagely upon the intruder. His shots never even came close.

Wesker watched the entire ordeal from afar. "He's reading your muscle movements you crazy fool!"

But Wild Dog was too caught up in the action to listen to him. Wesker stayed perfectly still, and waited for the right moment. More knives came flying down at Wild Dog, and he barely dodged them, tripping and falling off of the plane. Bursting out from the pile of rubble, Wild Dog was steaming. He transformed his arm into its rocket launcher mode, and unleashed a barrage of rockets. All he accomplished by this was destroying more of the hangar. The intruder just leaped out of the way each time, and tossed more knives at Wild Dog. Eventually, one of them pierced his shoulder.

Wild Dog took cover behind the aircraft and pulled out the blade, suppressing the agony it was causing him. "You piece of shit!" bellowed Wild Dog furiously. He grabbed a grenade from his belt, and pulled the clip. But before he could ever throw it, a knife landed on the floor to his right, and Wild Dog was frozen in place.

"What the-?" Wild Dog was stunned. "I...can't move."

Behind him, the intruder landed, pulled out another knife, and held it to Wild Dog's throat. "I think you've made enough of a mess," spoke the foreign voice. It was cold and deep. "Let me take this off your hands."

He took the grenade from Wild Dog's palm, and tossed it across the hangar. It exploded, but nothing was damaged.

"What the hell are you?" asked an angered Wild Dog. He was red with fury.

His attacker sniffed the side of his neck, and Wild Dog could have sworn he was savoring every moment of it.

"You are so easy to predict," he taunted.

The man stepped into Wild Dog's line of site, giving him his first good look at his enemy.

He was wearing an olive-green trench coat with a high collar, and black combat pants. His chest was exposed and Wild Dog noticed that there were deep cuts across it. He had long black hair, and a black mustache goatee. What startled Wild Dog the most was the fangs protruding from the man's mouth.

The vampire was smiling at Wild Dog's uncomfortableness, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. It seemed as if he would have pounced upon Wild Dog, but he never found out because a moment later, Wesker's Killer7 discharged, and the vampire was hit in the side of his abdominal area. He let out a cry of pain, and turned to face Wesker who was standing several feet away.

"Didn't see that coming, did you?"

The vampire grew enraged and thrust three knives at Wesker. Wesker lifted up his suitcase, and blocked the blades. They didn't even scratch the metallic case.

The man burst out into a full sprint, heading towards Wesker, who fired three more times at him, but the man began spinning around in some sort of dance style, and deflected the bullets with ease, while still closing the gap between them. When he was nearly in Wesker's face, he lashed out with two blades in a rapid flurry of slashes. Wesker dodged each and every attack, found an opening, and delivered his signature 'Thrust Punch' right into the man's chest, sending him hurling over fifteen feet backwards. The man rose to his feet with a look of annoyance on his face. With yet another burst of agility, he threw another blade at Wesker's feet, the same type that he had used to freeze Wild Dog. A second before it struck the ground, Wesker took a step back into the shadows. The knife hit its mark, but nothing happened.

"That won't work on me, not in the darkness."

The vampire cried out in anger. Just as he was about to continue his attack, something crashed through the roof of the hangar. Dust and smoke surged from the impacted area, temporarily blinding the three of them. When it finally cleared, Wesker was standing less than thirty feet away from a Metal Gear RAY unit.

Wild Dog, now released from the vampire's hold, returned to Wesker's side, just as the top hatch of the giant robot opened up, and someone appeared from it.

"He got you good with that last one, Vamp. Let it go," stated the new arrival. His voice held a British accent.

Wesker had to squint in order to see the man. He immediately realized that his voice did not match what he looked like. In fact, it sounded much younger. The man was old, probably in his late sixties, had long white hair, which he wore freely, and a large white mustache. He had on eye glasses, fingerless gloves, brown leather boots, khaki trousers, a matching color longsleeve shirt, and a black labcoat over that.

The man stood tall on top of the RAY unit as he surveyed the inhabitants. Eventually, his eyes locked onto Wesker's.

"So this is the infamous Albert Wesker. You know you're better than I thought."

Wesker had been looking forward to this. "I don't take kindly to flattery." He turned and focused on the warfare taking place outside. "Those are your Metal Gears out there. Then you must be the leader of Outer Heaven."

The man smirked. "Very perceptive."

"I'm a little confused though. Is it Ocelot...?" Now it was Wesker's turn to smirk. "...Or is it Liquid?"

The man's smile widened. "I see you've been doing your homework," he replied, a smug look on his face. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am neither Revolver Ocelot nor Liquid Snake, but a new being entirely, Liquid Ocelot!"

"So the stories are true then?" inquired Wesker, reverting back to a serious tone. "You are living on in Ocelot's body through that right arm. I am curious as to how you achieved this."

Liquid obliged him. "It was no coincidence that my arm was used as a replacement for the one Ocelot lost. I chose him because of the genes he inherited from his father."

"The Sorrow," responded Wesker.

Liquid nodded. "Yes, it would not have been possible otherwise. The Patriots have informed you well."

"I ask the right questions that's all," answered Wesker smoothly.

"Did they provide you with this facility as well?"

"No, it was left over from the Umbrella days, I just got it up and running recently."

"Ah, I see."

From where he was standing, Wild Dog was having a hard time piecing together the conversation, but he did not dare to interrupt.

Liquid continued his interrogation. "So exactly when did the Patriots contact you?"

"Six years ago," said Wesker. "During the Plagas operation. It was your involvement in it that spurred them."

Liquid raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Somehow they had learned that you were planning on taking Saddler's sample and that you had turned Ada Wong against me. They reached me told me everything. When Jack Krauser kidnapped Ashley Graham, they already knew I was somehow involved. So they purposely assigned agent Leon Kennedy with the task of rescuing her. They knew that he would prevail. Not only did he eliminate Osmund Saddler, but he rescued Ms. Graham and secured the sample. Ada was supposed to take over from there."

"Yes, they have a knack for using pawns to kill two birds with one stone," Liquid replied. "As for Ms. Wong, I heard you two had a little run in earlier. I hope you didn't rough her her too much."

"It went quite well actually, thanks for asking."

From across the hangar came another voice. "I guess that's a perspective thing."

Rounding the corner of one of the disused containers, Ada Wong entered the scene.

Liquid beamed. "Speak of the Devil and he shall appear. 'She' in this case."

Ada glared at Wesker as she made her way towards Liquid's RAY.

Wesker spoke as if she wasn't there. "However, although I knew she had been in contact with you, I merely thought she was just leaking information to you." For the first time since she had arrived, Wesker looked at Ada. "Clearly I was wrong."

When Ada spoke, her voice carried a challenging tone. "That's a risk you shouldn't have taken."

Wesker just stared at her. From behind him he heard Vamp snicker.

Liquid broke the silence. "After I acquired the sample, you became an extremely hard man to follow, Wesker."

Wesker never stopped looking at Ada. "But not hard enough." His gaze remained on her for a moment more, before it finally returned to Liquid. "Let me guess, you found out about this operation from my computer at OmniCorp?"

Liquid shook his head. "That was what I intended, but no. I sent Ada to recover any information she could about your current whereabouts and what you were up to, but someone got to them before us."

Wesker was confused. "Losing your touch I see. Who?"

Liquid took a moment to reply. "Solid Snake."

"Your brother?"

Liquid nodded. "If there's one thing I share with him its that we both want the Patriots eliminated. He had been tracking them for almost a year now, and he discovered that they had been in contact with you. He stole the files from your computer and learned everything he needed to know about you." Liquid turned towards the elevator's entrance. "Isn't that right Snake!"

All of them, including Wesker turned to the area that Liquid had just addressed. The space was empty. From Wesker's left, Vamp thrust two of his throwing knives at the area in question. They collided with the wall, and exploded. Five feet in front, sparks appeared in the seemingly empty area, and the form of Solid Snake became visible. He was equipped with an M4A1 carbine assault rifle, which was now aiming at Vamp's head.

Liquid Ocelot was the only one in the room not surprised by Snake's appearance. "Brother! Did you really think you could hide from me forever? You know as well as I that we can sense each other's presence. Why the subtlety?"

Snake lowered his weapon and faced his brother. "I didn't wanna ruin this little party you've got going here."

All eyes were on Snake now.

"Solid Snake," said Wesker.

Snake glared at him. "Yeah, I know who you are too."

Wesker sneered. "Learn a lot from those files did you?"

"You keep a pretty descriptive diary."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." He turned back towards Liquid. "The Twin Snakes are reunited again, and I'm in the middle of it. I never would have imagined it."

Snake ignored him and returned his focus to Liquid. "Liquid, is it true? Have you really resurrected Outer Heaven?"

"That's right Snake, with the Patriots' own RAY's." Liquid pointed at Wesker. "This man has allied himself with them, and you lead me right to him."

Snake was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"The hotel in New Jersey Snake. I had Ada here bug your car. From there we just listened as your partner spilled the beans."

Snake cursed himself fro making such a rookie mistake. He glanced at Ada, who looked at him sharply.

"It seems I've gotten the best of you once again Snake."

Snake ignored his brother's insults. "What are you planning Liquid?"

"Well now, in order to explain that to you, we would first have to know Mr. Wesker's scheme."

Before he could go on, another jeep burst into the hangar. Climbing down from the vehicle were Leon, Alan, Wesley, and the Master Chief, guns blaring.

"What is this a reunion?" remarked Wesker, seemingly annoyed.

The new group surveyed the room, obviously confused. Everyone exchanged glances with everyone else.

Leon looked over at Snake. "Thanks for the call, I almost missed this little get together."

"For a second, I thought you weren't gonna show," responded Snake, smiling for the first time since he'd been here.

When Leon had ordered Cortana to run a search on Albert Wesker, she accidentally crossed frequencies with Snake's codec while he was in mid-transmission with Otacon. Snake had explained everything that was going on, and told Leon that he had seen Wesker escaping through a hidden passage. From the armory, the path to this passage was blocked, so Leon couldn't get there. Instead, when Wesker got on board the cargo elevator, Snake snuck on beneath it, and rode it to the top. He then relayed his location to Leon, and informed him that Wesker was preparing to escape.

"Anyone wanna explain to me what the hell's going on around here?"

"Leon, you're just in time. Everything's coming to the light." It was Wesker who spoke.

Leon frowned. "Please, don't allow me to interrupt." He then turned to look at Ada.

Liquid spoke before he could. "The Patriot's puppet is here too? Well now, this just keeps getting better and better. I thought Ada would have taken care of you by now."

"She can't," said Wesker abruptly. "They're too close."

Liquid looked down at Ada. "I see. Is this true Ada?"

She was staring at Leon. "No, its just that he's had his uses in the past, and I've used them to gain what I needed that's all."

Leon was hurt. He didn't let it show, but he was. He tried to get her attention, but she avoided looking in his direction.

From behind him, the Chief addressed Wesker. "You unleashed the Flood, do you have any idea what you've started?"

Wesker stared at him. "You're the one they found onboard the ship? What do you think of Earth?"

Master Chief stepped forward. "I've been here before. If you think that I'm from another planet, you're dead wrong."

The Chief had caught everyone's attention.

Wesker looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Master Chief hesitated. He knew this would be coming sooner or later. "I'm from the future, the year 2552 to be exact."

Liquid chimed in. "Wait a minute, this was your plan Wesker? Taking control of technology from beyond our own time? I'm impressed."

Wesker paid him no mind. "This is a startling revelation, but would you mind elaborating on these creatures?"

And so the Chief explained everything. The Covenant/Human War, his arrival on Halo, the discovery of the Flood, and his escape from and the destruction of Halo. Everyone was left in awe.

"So you see, if these Halo installations, which were created to harbor the Flood, were designed with the power to completely annihilate all living beings, it was to ensure the Flood would never survive." He stared back at the elevator. "And now they're running around in packs down there because of your little science project."

Liquid applauded. "Bravo, that was an inspiring story," he turned to look at Wesker. "And it shows you exactly how unprepared you were for this operation Wesker."

Wesker scowled. "There was no way we could have seen this coming."

Master Chief pointed at Wesker and spoke. "You wanna end this, then hand over that sample and walk away."

Wesker smiled menacingly. "Don't get me wrong, the fact that I'm talking to someone from five hundred years in the future is something I'll never forget. But with the power I now wield, I can virtually take over this planet. I lost one sample already, I'm not about to make that mistake again."

From above them, Liquid re-entered the conversation. "And what exactly are we talking about here?"

Wesker grinned again, and held up the suitcase. "In here lies the future of Umbrella." He turned around to show off the case. "By weaponizing this virus, I can take control of the Flood, and Umbrella will once again flourish."

"And you think the Patriots aren't going to want in?" yelled Snake. "They basically control you at this point."

Wesker gave him a cold stare. "I can't be stopped."

Liquid seemed amused. "I'm afraid that's where you're wrong. Like I said, I'm going to bury the Patriots, and you're no exception Wesker. You may think you have the upper hand and that you know everything you need to know, but I assure you, you are sadly mistaken. You see, I too have done my research on you." He called over to Leon. "Did you know that Wesker here is not even fully human anymore?"

"What are you talking about?" inquired a confused Leon.

"After a little run in with one of his experiments, Wesker lost a part of himself. He is like me, a superior being. He hides it with his glasses, for his eyes glow an eerie red."

If this was bothering Wesker in any way, he wasn't showing it. Ada had suspected this all along and she and Leon shared a quick glance at each other.

Alan stepped up next to the Chief. "What do you mean, not fully human?"

Without warning, Liquid whipped out a revolver and fired five shots at Wesker. Wesker dodged each and every one. From behind him, Vamp lashed out at him, running faster than before. Wesker dropped the suitcase, pulled out his silenced pistol, and shot twice at Vamp. Vamp easily dodged by jumping up, but Wesker had already expected as much, and with the Killer7 still in his other hand, he fired at the spot before Vamp even got there. Vamp hit the ground with a trickle of blood running from his stomach. He stood up and brushed himself off.

"That's exactly what I mean," said Liquid from above.

The entire room was left speechless.

"This man could probably take you all on and prevail," Liquid continued. The he pulled out a large trigger and held it high in the air. "Which is why I am resorting to this."

Snake shuddered at the sight of the trigger. "What are you up to Liquid?"

Liquid laughed. "Snake, you and I both know that an army of RAY's alone isn't enough to stop the Patriots, so I was forced to take drastic measures. In the end, I was quite successful. Through Outer Heaven I was able to gain control of a space based Metal Gear that the Patriots had lying in wait. As I speak, this Metal Gear is orbiting over our exact location."

Everyone was astonished, including Wesker.

"A Metal Gear...in space?" Snake could barely believe it.

"That's right," answered Liquid. "Its called...the Artemis Platform!"

Wesker spoke under his breath, "So it does exist."

"Snake, it resembles Arsenal Gear, but vastly larger."

Leon was tired of this. "What's the point of all this?"

Liquid smirked. "I hold here in my hand the control to the Artemis Platform's primary weapon, the Hyperion Cannon."

Wesley whispered to Alan, "I don't like where this is going man."

Alan turned towards Wild Dog. "I don't think he does either."

Liquid continued his explanation. "The Hyperion Cannon fires a massive particle energy beam with a radius of about three eight hundred feet. Anything within its range is incinerated. You've already seen its first stage back on the train Wild Dog."

Wild Dog was startled by his being addressed. "I don't remember that."

Liquid elaborated. "Didn't you think it was a bit odd that all your electronic equipment just suddenly died?"

Leon put the pieces together and finished. "The cannon's first stage is an EMP blast?"

Liquid nodded. "Correct. It occurs exactly one minute before firing to immobilize any moving targets. Throughout that minute, the cannon charges up."

Master Chief spoke next. "Are you sure this cannon of yours works properly? Because a lot of things happened on that train, and being blown to bits wasn't one of them."

"That's because he never fired the cannon, only the EMP blast," answered Wesker.

"Exactly. I got second thoughts only moments before it fired, and I sent a RAY unit after you instead. I wanted to make sure there was nothing of value aboard the train." He turned to the Chief. "Lucky for you I was right."

Leon shuddered. The thought of being in the scopes of something as powerful as the Hyperion Cannon was a terrible one.

"So what now?" asked Snake.

Liquid smiled again for the umpteenth time. "Now..." He pressed the trigger and tossed it away. "...The party begins."

Leon gasped. "Are you mad!"

Ignoring him, Liquid continued. "In exactly ten minutes, this place will be hit by an EMP blast. One minute after that everything and everyone still in this base will be completely obliterated. For a time, not even bacteria will exist." He looked down at Ada. "I'm sorry dear, but I'm afraid you're no longer needed." With that he jumped inside RAY.

"Liquid!" Snake bellowed.

The machine started up, and took a giant step forward. A moment later, Liquid Ocelot's voice came bursting through its transmitter. "Now Wesker, since I know you're not going to give up that sample without a fight, I'll oblige you. Vamp, return to the battle, I can handle this."

Without a second thought, Vamp leapt all the way to the roof, and disappeared.

"Snake, you and your little friends are free to join us! Just remember what happened the last time I piloted a Metal Gear against you!"

Immediately, RAY lifted its leg up and attempted to stomp on Wesker and Wild Dog. The two jumped out of the way in seperate directions.

"Spread out! All of you!" screamed Snake.

Master Chief made his way towards Snake. Behind them, RAY had begun its assault on Wesker.

"They're going after Wild Dog," declared the Chief. "I can help you take care of Liquid."

Snake considered it. "You sure you're up for this?"

"I've faced bigger things than that pile of junk."

Snake nodded. "Good enough for me. I'll make my way up the catwalks while you circle around on ground level. If you get close to Wesker try to take him out, but don't do it at the cost of your own cover."

"I got you."

Snake patted him twice on the shoulder. "Master Chief, I'm Solid Snake, now show me what you can do."


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the long wait guys, Finals and AP Exams are killing me. Thank god summer is almost here.

My second story is up, and its called _Blades of Chaos_. As I said before, its a Samurai Jack/Link crossover. I've only got one chapter up so far, and I won't put the next one up until I get a few reviews, not to mention I've still got to work on this one.

Storywise, the Hyperion Cannon is only minutes away from firing, and the team is caught in the middle of a deadly power struggle. All the cards are on the table now, and their main focus is escaping with their lives. However, let's not forget that the Flood are still loose, and its only a matter of time before they reach the surface . . . .

* * *

**- CHAPTER 11 -  
**

* * *

**Umbrella Research Facility**

**Abandoned Hangar**

**Cannon Countdown: 9 min. 38 sec.**

_I thought I'd be able to relax after I escaped Halo. Boy was I wrong._

The words ran through Master Chief's head as he himself ran through the labyrinth of old storage containers in the forgotten hangar. Ahead of him, Metal Gear RAY was pounnding the ground with its massive legs, like someone would when they were trying to squash a cockroach. Unfortunately for Albert Wesker, he was the roach in this scenario.

_Good, keeps his attention off of me._

The Chief had almost arrived at the behemoth robot's feet when he spotted Wesker dashing down the same row as him. He bounded after the escaping man, but never even came close, as RAY's water jet cannon blasted between them, taking a majority of the containers with it, and stopping the Chief in his tracks. RAY ignored him and continued its relentless pursuit.

The Chief did not fire at it for two reasons: He didn't want to piss Liquid off and have it come after him, and he knew very well that he would probably end up doing absolutely no damage to it.

The rampaging machine charged up its laser again and blasted around the hangar, taking most of the roof and walls with it. Through all the dust and haze, Liquid's voice boomed.

"Wesker, you can't escape me! I'll tear this entire base apart until I find you!"

The Chief's vision cleared up and he realized that there was no longer a roof over his head. Around him were the remains of the building, as well as sections of wall that were still standing. RAY was searching maniacally through the destruction, blasting every once and a while at a pile of rubble. Behind him, Wild Dog was doing battle with Alan and Wesley in the half of the hangar that still stood. Leon was nowhere to be found. Then, something to his left caught his attention. There was a convoy of jeeps and trucks approaching. Master Chief loaded his weapon, and informed the others.

"We've got company. South end, looks like Wesker's men."

Alan was the first to reply. "We've got our hands full man, you're gonna have to work it out."

"I see em Chief, it looks like they're Wesker's backup," declared Snake.

The men jumped out of their vehicles and immediately took action. They were all carrying high powered assault rifles, but against RAY's exterior that didn't mean a thing. Then the Chief spotted two more enemies. These looked like some sort of special ops ninjas, equipped with swords and high tech equipment. They leapt out of the trucks at an alarming height, and unsheathed their weapons.

"Cortana, are you keeping an eye on our time limit?" asked the Chief as he ran towards the battle.

"You've got about eight and a half minutes."

"Snake, you go after Wesker, I'll handle them," affirmed the Chief.

He bounded towards the group of soldiers and tossed a grenade over in their direction. The ninjas were quick to evade the blast, but the same could not be said for the soldiers. But now he had made himself a target. The ninjas glared at him through their glowing red goggles and separated. The one on his left came down with a forceful vertical slash, but the Chief moved at the last second and blasted him in his back with his shotgun. The man flew a few feet away, then recovered.

_What the...?_

The blast had not even slowed the enemy down. Before he could think about it any longer, the other ninja landed behind him and charged at him. Whirling around, the Chief fired at him until he was out of cartridges. The ninja was far too agile and jumped out of the way of each and every blast while still moving towards him. His enemy delivered a horizontal slash at his neck, which the Chief ducked under. Gripping his empty shotgun with both hands, he bashed the man in the face, cracking his goggles. The masked assailant put his hand to his face as if he was in extreme pain, but made no sound. Master Chief moved in for another attack, but the ninja pulled out a P-90 and unloaded on the Chief, causing him to dive out of the way.

Landing behind a pile of collapsed roof, he spotted his enemies regrouping ahead of him.

_I've gotta even these odds. But how?_

His enemies were quick, maybe even too quick. That's when it hit him.

Jumping out of cover, he reached for the assault rifle on his back. The Chief fired wildly at the pair, causing them to split. Once they did that, he only followed one of them with gunfire, ignoring the other one completely. The one he was attacking just kept on dodging and jumping. From his peripheral vision, he noticed the second one making his way around him.

_Come on, just a little closer..._

The Chief continued firing, making sure that the one he was shooting at was a good distance away. When the ninja behind him jumped into the air, the Chief reacted.

Dropping his assault rifle, he spun around just as his attacker's sword was coming down on him. With both hands, the Chief stopped the man's blade and held it firm. Still gripping the hilt, the ninja stared at him. Since he had a mask on, the Chief couldn't see his face, but he was willing to bet the man was wide-eyed.

He had remembered that his shields coudn't be penetrated in this time, and had utilized them. By attacking only one of them, the Chief knew that the other would use the oppurtunity as a distraction, and attempt a sneak attack from behind him. The Chief had actually never forgotten about the second ninja, and had lured him into his trap.

The ninja wouldn't let go of the sword, so Master Chief took action. He tugged hard on the blade, easily ripping it from the man's grasp, while also pulling himself closer to him. Now right in front of him, the Chief punched him in the face, sending him to the ground. Then he noticed the other one approaching again. He kicked his assault rifle into the air, caught it one-handed, and fired at him. The ninja deflected the shots with his blade. Instantly, the Chief took off at full speed towards him. The ninja was confused, stopped moving, and fired at the Chief. The shots of course didn't even phase him. Realizing that the Chief was getting too close, the ninja dropped his weapon and aimed his fist at him. Master Chief noticed a miniature rocket launcher attached to the man's wrist, let his weapon fall to the ground, and quickly side-stepped.

Grabbing the man's outstretched arm, Master Chief spun around behind him, kneed him in the back, and aimed the man's arm at the other ninja. The projectile fired, and exploded in the second ninja's face, killing him instantly.

The ninja still in the Chief's grasp wrenched free, took two quick steps forward, spun around, and delivered a forward thrust at the Chief's stomach. With the other ninja's sword still in his hand, the Chief parried the strike easily. They exchanged a few more blows, before the ninja knocked the Chief's blade away. With Master Chief momentarily stunned, the ninja raised his blade and brought it down hard. The Chief put his forearm in the way, and when the blade met his arm, it shattered instantly. At that same moment, the Chief spotted a large shadow underneath him and jumped back, dodging the giant foot of Metal Gear RAY by inches. The ninja was not so fortunate.

On his back, Master Chief stared up at the colossal machine, and could only watch as it raised its massive foot up to annhilate him.

Solid Snake was rushing through the destruction of the old hangar, trying his best to keep up with Wesker. After Liquid had destroyed most of the hangar, Snake had fallen from the catwalks and was almost killed in the process. Wesker had caught him by surprise and attacked him from above. The two struggled for a moment before Liquid's RAY arrived and Wesker bailed.

"Otacon, how much longer?"

His partner's response was brief. "I'm almost there, hang on a little longer Snake."

_Easier said than done buddy. This isn't exactly a social call._

Snake needed to find Wesker quick and relieve him of his suitcase. Whatever he had in there was obviously something that Snake didn't want him to have.

"We've got company. South end, looks like Wesker's men," spoke the Master Chief suddenly over his codec.

Glancing to his right, he took note of the approaching convoy.

"I see em Chief, it looks like they're Wesker's backup," affirmed Snake.

The vehicles were bounding down the runway at breakneck speed.

"Snake, you go after Wesker, I'll handle them," announced the Master Chief suddenly.

Snake acknowledged his claim and continued the chase. Gaining on Wesker, he raised his weapon and fired. It was as if the man had eyes on the back of his head, because he quickly jumped over a pile of debris, avoiding Snake's blast. Meanwhile, Liquid's onslaught continued, as he fired a dozen missiles from his RAY unit, all which nearly sent Snake to his death. When the smoke cleared, Snake had to dive out of RAY's path in order to avoid being flattened. A couple of shots went off over the pile which Wesker had just jumped over, so Snake approached with caution.

Poking his head out, he spotted Ada and Leon hot on Wesker's trail.

_Where the hell does he think he's going?_, thought Snake to himself.

Arriving at Leon's side, Wesker opened fire on them with his Killer7. Each shot discharged with a deafening roar.

"One shot from that gun of his and we're done," explained Leon.

Snake spotted RAY approaching. "That's the least of my worries right now," said Snake. "Where did Ada go?"

Leon shook his head. "I ran into her for a second there. She must have gone after Wesker."

When Wesker's gunfire ceased, Leon motioned for Snake to cover him.

"Go!"

Leon burst out from his cover and ran in Wesker's direction, firing madly with his Blacktail. Wesker moved out of the way, waiting for Leon to go empty. Surprisingly, Leon's handgun had an overwhelming capacity of 21 rounds per clip. When the firing subsided, Wesker jumped out from his own cover, swinging the suitcase with his right hand. Leon ducked, and the case smashed into and through the solid concrete of a fallen piece of wall. Snake moved in to aid Leon, but Wesker spotted him and leapt into the air. At the same time, RAY unloaded on him with its machine guns. Wesker swung the suitcase, deflecting all of the shots away from himself. Landing a few feet away, he bolted towards the vehicles that had been left behind by his men. As he did, an explosion from their right caught Snake and Leon's ears. It had also caught Liquid's.

Turning, Leon and Snake could just make out Master Chief deep in sword combat with some sort of ninja. RAY arrived at the scene, and tried to crush the Chief. However, the Chief was too quick and moved out of the way. But now he was on the ground, and RAY lifted its leg up again. As it loomed over him, Snake and Leon could only watch in horror, as it came down on him full force.

"No!" cried Leon.

The crash sent a cloud of dust everywhere, and the scene was closed off for a moment. As the smoke cleared, Snake could not believe what he was seeing.

"No freakin way," muttered Leon, utterly perplexed.

Standing before them was the Master Chief, holding Metal Gear RAY's foot clear above his head.

"What the-?" spoke Liquid, just realizing it as well.

The foot pressed down harder, but the Chief just wouldn't back down. The ground beneath him was no longer flat, but a small crater.

"That's impossible," said Snake, keeping his eyes on the ordeal taking place just a few feet away.

With one major burst of energy, Master Chief pushed up hard, causing RAY to go unbalanced. With one foot still in the air, RAY fell on its back, leaving the biggest cloud of dust yet. At the same time, the rotors of a chopper caught Snake's ears.

"One Stinger missile launcher ready for pickup!" yelled Otacon over the codec.

Hovering at the end of the hangar was an S-76 HeliJet with the side door open. A figure emerged and dropped an FIM-92 surface-to-air Stinger missile launcher.

"Thanks Otacon, you're just in time," said Snake.

Turning to where RAY had collapsed, Snake identified the Master Chief regaining his composure as well as the Metal Gear getting back on its feet.

"Chief get outta there!" yelled Leon.

The Chief acknowledged the warning and ran to his left.

"You're tougher than I thought!" shouted Liquid.

To their right, a car started up.

"Its Wesker, he's escaping!"

Snake had already formulated a plan. "Go after him, I'll catch up to you."

Leon eyed him with confusion. "What about you?"

Snake glanced at RAY. "I've got one last mess to clean up. Go!"

Leon nodded and ran towards the area of gathered vehicles. Snake made sure he got there safely before returning his attention to RAY. Now the gargantuan mechanism had its sights set on him. But before he could react, a missile shot from his left caught RAY on its right knee. It cried out in pain, and before it could move another missile struck its mouth.

"Good shooting Chief," said Snake.

Master Chief gave him a thumbs up while still maintaining the launcher on his shoulder. "I'll keep him busy."

"Gotcha," replied Snake.

Returning to the interior of the hangar, Snake scanned the area and located Wesley hiding behind a storage container, pinned down by Wild Dog's gunfire. Snake loaded the grenade launcher on his rifle and fired it at Wild Dog. Transforming his arm into its laser sword mode, Wild Dog sliced the explosive, and it never even detonated.

"Where do you pests keep coming from?" he yelled in an angry tone. With his Mauser, he took aim at Snake and fired.

Snake switched on his stealth camo and dived out of the way. Jumping out from cover, Wesley fired at Wild Dog, who was standing on top of another storage Dog jumped into the air, and transformed his arm again.

"Heads up!" warned Snake. Wesley had already spotted the move. With his arm in its rocket launcher mode, Wild Dog was spinning around in the air, sending rockets in every direction. A shot rang out and caught him on the side, and he landed behind another container.

"Got him," announced Alan from his position.

Their joy was outlived as the container was cut into two, and out came an enraged Wild Dog. He lunged at Wesley and slashed at him maniacally. Wesley was able to avoid being pulverized, but he was having a hard time surviving Wild Dog's berserk onslaught.

"A little help here guys," he said over the radio.

"Hang on, I'm coming to you," responded Alan.

Evading a shot at his head, Wesley kicked Wild Dog in his stomach, but the man barely felt it. Bringing his weapon up Wesley fired off a shot, but Wild Dog was too quick. He backflipped and the bullet flew right under him. Landing in a kneel, he fired at Wesley with his Mauser. Wesley ducked behind another container and reloaded his weapon. From behind Wild Dog, Alan appeared, firing savagely. With brute force, Wild Dog kicked in the container behind him and sent it rocketing in Alan's direction.

"Shit!" he yelled.

From his right, someone tackled him and he flew out of the way. Looking around he spotted no one.

"That was a close one," spoke Snake.

Solid Snake suddenly appeared before him from thin air.

Alan was shocked. "How the hell?"

Snake helped him up. "Stealth camouflage."

"Nice. Gotta get me one of those."

Wild Dog wasn't finished just yet. Raising his arm in the air, he transformed it into a form Alan had never seen before.

"Wes, are you watching this?" asked Alan over the radio.

"Yeah, what the hell is he doing?"

From Wild Dog's arm emerged a long energy mace. Spinning it around in the air, he swung it at Snake and Alan. The two jumped out of the way as the ball came crashing down. Laughing uncontrollably, Wild Dog bellowed, "We've still got a few minutes of playtime before this place is vaporized! Let's have some fun!"

He proceeded to destroy most of the containers in the area in a relentless hunt for his quarries.

Snake fired at him with his M4, but Wild Dog just deflected it. He rushed at Snake while simultaneously firing at him with his Mauser. Swinging the mace full force, he almost took Snake's head off. Snake managed to duck under it and switch his stealth camo back on.

"I'll find you!"

Spinning around in a frenzy, he moved like a tornado into the center of the room, his mace crushing anything it came in contact with.

"As soon as he stops open fire!" commanded Snake.

The destruction lasted another minute before finally, Wild Dog came to a halt. Almost instantly, both Alan and Wesley emerged from their hiding spots and unloaded on Wild Dog. Since they were on either side of him, he had to switch back to laser sword mode in order to stand a chance. Backing off away from them, he deflected their shots while still managing to fire back at them. From behind him, Snake joined in. Against overwhelming odds, Wild Dog panicked and leapt into the air. Tossing his last grenade, Snake hurled the explosive not at Wild Dog, but at the roof above him. When it exploded, the roof caved in on top of him and sent him falling back down along with the rest of the roof.

The three of them converged at the pile of rubble, guns still drawn. Suddenly, Wild Dog's hand emerged from the pile with a detonator in its grip.

"Move!" yelled Wesley.

They dived out of the way just as his finger came down on the button and the pile exploded. When the dust settled, there was nothing left. They stared at the area a moment longer.

"I guess that's that," declared Alan, wiping the perspiration of his face.

Snake glanced back to where the Chief was battling RAY. "Let's move, there's not much time left."

An explosion from the cargo elevator caught their attention.

"Not now," said Snake under his breath.

Emerging from the shaft, a swarm of Infection Forms already began to spread throughout the area. Behind them sprang the Combat Forms.

"Ah shit!" exclaimed Wesley.

"C'mon, we've gotta get the hell outta here!" commanded Snake. He motioned for them to move, then contacted Otacon as he ran. "Otacon, we need an evac now!"

His partner answered him instantly. "I can pick you up at the southeast end."

"We'll be there, don't be late."

As they moved across the hangar, Master Chief's battle with RAY became visible.

"Chief! Head towards the end of the hangar, I'll take care of this!" Snake screamed at the top of his lungs.

The armored man nodded as he, Alan, and Wesley made their way to the evac point.

Stopping in front of RAY, Snake cried,"Liquid!"

The machine stopped moving. It just stared at him. Snake was ready to move at the first sight of an attack, but one never came. The hatch on its head opened and Liquid Ocelot emerged.

"How's the new body treatin' ya?" asked Snake, buying the others some time.

Liquid scoffed. "Ha! I'm in full control now Snake!"

Almost immediately, Liquid's right arm went into a frenzy.

"Damn!" yelled Liquid in pain. He was clutching his right arm with his left hand.

After another moment, the attack subsided.

Snake chuckled. "Full control huh? Looks to me like you're getting ahead of yourself."

Liquid regained his footing before continuing. "He's been taking medicine these past few months, designed to block me out. I thought I had overcome them, but I guess I was wrong." He was looking Snake right in the eye. "This won't go on much longer though. I'm getting brain surgery to make sure he never again interferes."

Snake changed the subject. "Why are you doing this Liquid?"

Liquid's upper lip rose slightly. "My reasons are my own Snake." Then his tone became less aggressive. "Snake, they lied to us."

The comment bewildered Snake. "What are you talking about?"

"The Patriots Snake, they played us for fools."

"What do you mean?" Snake asked, raising his eyebrow.

Liquid elaborated. "When I first awakened in Ocelot's body, I could only access certain information from his subconscious. But now that I've been here for awhile, I've learned quite a lot about his dealings with the Patriots. They played us for saps Snake. You were never the superior clone of Big Boss, I was. They lied to me, counting on the fact that my hate for you would fuel my leadership during Shadow Moses."

Snake was speechless. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. All this time he had lived his life with that certain piece of information, and now he was being told it was false.

"And yet you still defeated me," said Liquid. He hesitated as he spoke. "I know we have our differences which we will settle in time, but for the record, I hold no grudge against you."

Snake was perplexed. _He's joking right? He's got to be_.

"That doesn't mean I won't squash you if you get in my way, but for now..." he glanced at the incoming Flood. "Get the hell out of here." And with that he jumped back inside his damaged RAY, and departed.

Snake stood still as he watched the machine make its way across the runway. If it hadn't been for Otacon, he probably would have stayed there awhile longer.

"Snake! We've gotta go!"

Snake snapped out of his thoughts, took note of the approaching creatures, and ran towards the awaiting chopper. Jumping onboard, he patted Otacon on the shoulder.

"Sorry about that, and thanks for the save."

Otacon nodded. "We're not in the clear yet. We've still gotta get Leon."

The chopper slowly lifted off the ground. "I'll tell him to be on the lookout for us. How much time do we have left?"

Master Chief answered his question from the back of the chopper. "Five and a half minutes and counting."

Snake nodded. "Well we better make this quick then."

As the helicopter moved down the runway, Snake was still surprised at the fact that his brother, for the first time in his life, had shown anyone compassion.

Maneuevering the roofless jeep as best as he could, Leon maintained his course behind Wesker's vehicle. They were rapidly approaching the battle that was still taking place, and Leon was beginning to get nervous. Gunfire sprayed from Wesker's jeep, and Leon had to duck to avoid being hit.

"Dammit!" he yelled, as the windshield shattered, and he was showered in glass.

Grabbing his Blacktail, he returned fire, popping Wesker's two rear tires. The car almost lost control, but Wesker was able to quickly regain it. However, his car was much slower now. Leon gunned the engine and pulled up next to Wesker's vehicle, ramming it hard on its side. Wesker couldn't afford to try that against him for risk of crashing, so he just gritted his teeth and did his best to evade Leon. No such luck there.

Leon continued ramming him, and had begun to gain the upper hand. But then Wesker did the unexpected. Springing up from his seat, he landed in the passenger seat of Leon's jeep. At once, Leon aimed his weapon at the man, but Wesker grabbed his arm. They struggled ferociously all the while the car was nearly at the battlesite.

Leon tried to release the accelerator, but Wesker kept his own foot on Leon's. Leon ignored the steering wheel, and the two were throwing punches left and right. Grabbing Leon by his jacket, Wesker headbutt him for the second time today, causing Leon to fall backwards. The door flew open, and his head was only inches from the speeding runway below him. Wesker was on top of him, trying to finish him off, but Leon wasn't backing out. He kept his own grip on Wesker's jacket, and holding on with all his might, he pulled Wesker's face close to his and did the first thing he could think of. He bit.

With his teeth, he clamped down of Wesker's nose as hard as he possibly could._ I don't give a damn how inhuman you are, that shit has got to hurt_. Wesker howled in pain, releasing his grip on Leon. Pulling himself up, Leon took advantage of his enemy's distress. He hit Wesker with everything he had, but no matter what, his foot would not budge. The two of them grappled in the front seat of the jeep, but it soon began to take its toll, at least on Leon.

Managing to extract his silenced pistol, Wesker moved to aim it at Leon. With his free leg, he kicked Wesker squarely in the chest, and sent him flying out of the car and onto the runway. But it seemed as if Wesker had gotten the last laugh, as he had managed to rip a few cables on his way out. The brakes were out, and he was on a crash course with hell itself. A helicopter behind him caught his attention.

"Leon!" It was Alan.

Looking up at the chopper, he spotted the Master Chief extending his arm out.

"Grab my arm!" barked the Chief.

The chopper lowered itself closer to Leon, and he had to jump in order to reach the Chief's arm.

"I got him!"

The chopper quickly pulled away, as the jeep smashed directly into a tank. The Chief helped him up, and they slid the door closed.

Staring out the window, they watched as each and every RAY unit suddenly stopped what they were doing, and jumped into the air, disappearing.

"The Hyperion Cannon is preparing to fire!" spoke Cortana over their radios.

"Everybody hang on!" commanded Otacon.

They all braced themselves as the chopper banked to the left. Looking back, the clouds parted, and a small beam of energy poured down from the sky, followed by a giant blast of energy. The light was too bright to look at, and they all turned away. The explosion was extremely powerful, rocking the Earth below them, and Otacon had to struggle to regain control of the helicopter. When the base became visible again, there was nothing to look at. Everything had been destroyed.

None of them spoke for the rest of the trip, as they were all shocked at what they had just escaped.


	13. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:**

I'M BACK BABY! Man has it been awhile! This past year has been crazy for me, and there was just so much going on that I couldn't find any time to work on this. It's senior year, I've got AP classes, I got fired from the movie theater, I was stressing about college, money was tight, and on top of that, having a working computer at your house would be nice too, but that's an entirely different story. However, now that I've gotten my priorities back in order, I can once again continue my work. I'd just like to apologize for the wait, and I hope I can make it up to you with this next chapter.

Starting this chapter was difficult at first because I didn't how to begin. I couldn't decide on a time frame between the previous chapter and this one. When should this take place? A week? A month? On top of that, everything was pretty much wrapped up in the last chapter, so I didn't really know how to continue the story. However, I was able to get my head on right and concoct the next great chapter of Infinite Gambit. So ladies (if any) and gentlemen, without further adieu, here is Chapter 12.

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**- CHAPTER 12 -  
**

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**Twin Lakes**

**Lake County Colorado**

**Four Hours Later**

Dusk had fallen upon the small quiet town of Twin Lakes, Colorado, and yet the beauty of the lake for which it was named after could not be hindered. The mountain peaks which surrounded were reflected off of the lake's unusually flat water, and combined with the setting sun's plethora of color, it was truly a sight to see. The air, still, yet with a touch of frigidness, mixed with the low breeze brought about by the two bodies of water, and the mass combination of weather ran straight through the small town which sat on the water's edge.

The citizens of Twin Lakes were going about their normal everyday lives, which isn't saying much. Located in the middle of a dense forest, the town's population just barely hit over a thousand people. Everyone knew who everyone else was and what they were up to. The occasional tourist passed by from time to time, mainly for a trip around the lake, but few ever stayed more than a day. Actually, if it wasn't for the lake, there probably wouldn't even be any passersby.

With night rolling in, shop lights began to go off, and the few bars began to get crowded. Gossip flew left and right in this tiniest of towns, especially during the nightlife. The children were being tucked in while the housewives prepared dinner.

One individual in specific, Joseph Gaines, who owned the only gas station in town, had just stepped out into the cold. He flipped the sign on the door so that it read "Sorry, we're closed." Then he reached into the pocket of his oil-stained overalls, and extracted a pair of keys, using one to lock the front door of his self-owned establishment. He then returned the keys to his pocket and grabbed the single cigarette resting on his left ear. Checking the door to make sure it was locked, he took into account the pack of matches sitting on the ice box to his left.

"Right where I left you," he said softly.

He grabbed the matches, ripped one out, and used it to start his long awaited smoke session. Taking a quick glance around, he sat down on the front bench and gazed up at the starry, cloudless sky.

It was the same routine everyday. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happened in Twin Lakes, which was exactly why the town was so unprepared for the insanity that would befall it that very night.

Less than ten miles away, a small S-76 HeliJet cruised through the brisk night across the seemingly endless expanse of Colorado wilderness. Silence had engrossed the interior of the lone chopper, and it had been maintained for the last two hours. Since their close encounter with death earlier that day, the passengers deserved a well earned rest.

Leon Kennedy was the first to awaken in a daze. His back resting against the cockpit, he took a moment to allow his pupils to adjust to the darkness which had materialized during his brief intermission. Rubbing his right eye, Leon straightened himself against the seat behind him and took in his surroundings. On his left sat Wesley, completely overcome with slumber, and across from Wesley sat Alan, in a similar state. The hulking Master Chief was seated in front of Leon, his head facing the window. Whether or not he was awake was a mystery to Leon, as he could only stare into the Spartan's gold visor. Shifting his gaze, Leon took a closer look at the Chief's armor. They had to dump a lot of their cargo from the chopper so that it could support his weight. To think this alloy was actually constructed over five hundred years in the future...

_Screw that! To think that I've fought alongside someone from the future! Against aliens no less!_

As Leon continued to study the armor, the Chief's voice startled him.

"Reality just hit you?"

Leon couldn't help but smile. "I guess you could say that. This has been one hell of day, probably the longest day of my entire life. And trust me, if anyone knows what a bad day is, it's me."

The Chief was looking at Leon now. "I know what you mean," he stated. "I think we all do."

From behind him, Leon could just barely make out the voices of Snake and Otacon deep in conversation.

"Let me ask you something," said Leon, adjusting his position. "Today I saw you punch through steel objects, run at inhuman speeds, rush through a barrage of bullets, and stop a Metal Gear dead in it's tracks. So I just have to know, you're all human under there right?"

Master Chief returned his masked gaze to the window. "I'm not a robot if that's what you're asking."

Chuckling, Leon continued. "No, I guess you're not. I met a person today, not a machine. But how the hell do you jump so damn high?"

"Years of training and experimentation," was the reply. Only it didn't come from the Chief, but Cortana.

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Leon.

"John's a product of the Spartan-II Project. He was selected for training at a young age, and has undergone various physical and mental augmentations."

Leon nodded. "So you're like a super soldier huh? Are there others like you?"

This Chief looked down. It seemed as if he couldn't answer the question, or that he was unsure.

Cortana answered this question as well. "There were, but we can only hope that they've managed to stay alive. We've been...away for a little too long I'm afraid."

"You mean from the war?" asked Leon, recalling the Chief's story earlier that day.

"Yes," responded Cortana. "A large majority of the Chief's team was assigned to defend the planet Reach when the Covenant Fleet arrived. We don't even know Reach's fate, much less that of the other Spartans. And if we don't get back soon..."

"We're not going anywhere until we destroy the Flood," declared the Chief suddenly. "Until then, we can only hope that Earth, my Earth, can hold it's own against the Covenant."

"But the Hyperion Cannon..."

Cortana interrupted him. "We can't just assume that these things are gone. If even the smallest trace of Flood DNA escaped that base, there's no telling how fast it could spread.

The Chief nodded. "You're working for the government. This is as much a responsibility for you as it is for me. You've been out of touch with your commanding officer for days now. I'm sure he'd like to know what's going on."

Leon was taking it all in. The Chief was absolutely right. Leon's job wasn't over. He had to warn the government about this as soon as possible. Leon just nodded and stared at the floor.

After a moment of silence, the cockpit door slid open and Snake stuck his head out.

"Why the hell is it so damn dark back here?" he asked, squinting. "Otacon, hit the lights."

A moment later the lights flickered on, and Snake walked in. He turned to Wesley who was still sleeping, and awoke him. Across from them, the Chief did the same to Alan.

"We home yet?" asked Alan, yawning. He looked around, then out the window and answered his own question. "Never mind."

With everyone at attention, Snake spoke.

"There's a town a few miles ahead of us, so we're gonna stop there and refuel. With a full tank, we can make it to the airport in no time."

"Where exactly are we?" inquired Leon, rubbing his eyes once more.

"Otacon says we're somewhere in Lake County, but we can check that out when we get into town. We don't wanna attract attention so we're gonna set her down about a half mile away and walk from there."

"Uh, no offense, but I think everyone'll be too busy staring at the big guy over here to notice a chopper landing nearby," stated Wesley, referring to the Chief. "Are you naked under there or do you have something on underneath?"

The Chief turned and stared at Wesley, who seemed embarrassed.

"It's no problem, I'll stay with the chopper," answered the Chief.

"I'll stay too," said Snake. "I'm not exactly dressed for subtlety either. The rest of you will go into town and get what we need. We'll be landing in a few so get ready."

They all nodded as Snake re-entered the cockpit, and prepared themselves for their next task.

The Artemis Platform, which was currently in high elliptical orbit over the North Atlantic, was easily the most sophisticated mix of technology and architecture in the history of mankind. The colossal space station ran a little over 360 feet from bottom to top, and housed over 500 inhabitants at once. It was modeled after the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station, only vastly larger and it is the only space station in history designed for high Earth orbit. It is linked to 24 communication satellites in orbit around the Earth, and can interact with them remotely. It's exterior defenses resemble that of Metal Gear RAY's armor, only drastically modified. There are two shuttle modules on each side which can attach to almost every form of space shuttle in existence, which is how one gains access onto the station. But above all else, the Artemis Platform houses the most powerful weapon of mass destruction on the face of the planet, the Hyperion Cannon.

Liquid Ocelot entered the command center of the space station and paused at the balcony railing situated at the entrance of the grand room. Peering down, he took note of the fact that everyone in the room was busy at work and no one seemed to notice his presence. If there was one thing Liquid stressed the most, it was efficiency. His hands behind his back, he continued to study the dealings within his command center when one of the deck officers approached him.

"Sir, there's something I think you should see," spoke the officer, unwaveringly.

Liquid turned to face the dark skinned man who seemed to be somewhere in his mid-thirties. "What's the problem?" he asked, seemingly annoyed by the interruption.

"It's complicated sir, follow me."

Liquid obliged him, and the man led him down the stairs, through the center of the room, to a large computer console with a lower-ranked officer seated in front of it. The deck officer put his hand on the man's shoulder, and he acknowledged both Liquid's and the deck officer's presence.

The deck officer leaned towards the screen and pointed at the top left corner. "Take a look at this."

Liquid leaned in closer to read what it said. He had to adjust his glasses to make it out well enough. Clearly age was getting the better of him.

He was still for a moment as he took in the words on the screen and what they meant. His eyes widened some, confused and bewildered.

"What does this mean?"

"We're detecting unidentified lifeforms in this region here. According to the scan, they're the same type of creatures that you brought in today."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I wish I were sir, but I'm not."

Liquid was stunned. "How did they survive the Hyperion Cannon blast?"

The deck officer spoke next. "The cannon's blast radius is large sir, but not impossible to avoid. Judging by the speed that these things move, I wouldn't doubt for a second that a few of them were able to get out of range before the cannon fired."

"How many?"

"Three sir."

Liquid thought a moment, staring out at the Earth through the large glass window at the front of the room. He had no doubt in his mind that both his brother and Wesker had escaped the mountain base before it was destroyed, but now he was being told that the Flood had not perished either.

"What about Snake and his little friends?"

The man at the controls punched in a few commands and a radar came to life on the screen.

"What you're seeing is a satellite recording of the area where we detected Flood activity," explained the officer. "The small cluster you see on the left represents the surviving Flood entities. The large dot on the right is a chopper we've been tracking. We believe that Solid Snake, the three U.S. agents, and the armored man are on board."

Liquid stared at the officer. "You believe? Of course it's them you idiot!"

He took another look at the radar, calculating the direction in which the chopper was headed. The Flood were about two miles behind the helicopter and gaining on it fast. Liquid reviewed his options mentally, settling on one after less than a minute.

"We can't afford to have an outbreak of these things, not now at least. We have yet to fully understand them, and until we do we need to contain this. There are plenty of animals in that forest for the Flood to feed on. For all we know there could already be hundreds of them."

The deck officer shook his head. "Not likely sir. These three survivors have maintained that same speed for the past four hours, and haven't stopped moving. Plus, even if they did infect another creature, it would have shown up on our sensors. Of course, if you want to be completely sure we could ready the cannon."

"No," replied Liquid. "The map says they're approaching a small town. One mysterious explosion in Colorado is hard enough to cover up as it is. I'm not risking another one unless it's absolutely necessary." He put his finger to his ear and spoke. "Ada, I have a task for you. Meet me on the command deck immediately." Then he turned back to the deck officer. "I want a team of my best commandos suited up and prepared for departure in fifteen minutes."

"Yes sir," the deck officer replied. "Clean and sweep?"

Liquid nodded. "I want those bastards taken out as quickly as possible. No witnesses."

With that he made his way back to the front of the command center. As he exited, the elevator doors opened and Ada Wong stepped out. She was speaking into her communicator with another officer.

"Fill me in later," she said, ending the transmission. She looked up as Liquid approached her. "You wanted to see me?"

Liquid continued past her, and she fell in line next to him. "Any word on Wesker?"

"We intercepted a transmission from his pilot, Hunk. We know he's alive, but we don't know where he's fled to."

Scratching his chin, Liquid took in the news. "We've got bigger problems."

He filled her in about the surviving Flood, and the operation that was about to go down.

"No doubt Wesker knows about this," she replied after a moment. "He'll want to collect battle data on these creatures, and this would serve as the perfect oppurtunity for it."

"My thoughts exactly, the Patriots wouldn't pass up a chance like this. Which is where you come in." Liquid stopped walking and turned to face her. "I want you and Vamp to take a team down there and wipe out any trace of the Flood. If by any chance you encounter Wesker or any pawn of the Patriots for that matter, you contact me before taking action. Do you understand me?"

Ada nodded. "Yes."

"Good," answered Liquid, turning to leave.

As he did, Ada spoke again from behind him.

"What about your brother and the others?" She sounded curious.

Liquid paused and looked down. "Our target is the Flood and only the Flood. I have no doubt in my mind that by the time you arrive, there will be a lot more of them running around that town. My brother and his friends will have enough on their hands as it is, so unless they interfere directly with the operation, leave them be."

"I understand."

Liquid turned the corner of the hallway and disappeared, leaving Ada alone with her thoughts. She couldn't help but smile.

_So Leon, you've escaped death again. Fate seems to find pleasure in having us meet like this. I'll be seeing you again shortly._

With that she extracted her communicator and established a connection.

"Vamp," she said firmly. "We've got another assignment."

The dirt path under Leon's feet ended abruptly, and was replaced with asphalt cement. He paused for a moment, took a look around, and motioned for the others to move up. Otacon, Wesley, and Alan emerged from the trees and onto the moonlit street. They were standing next to a "Dead End" sign which was placed at the end of the road in front of the forest.

The group was in a quiet neighborhood with five houses on either side of the road. It was still pretty early so most of the lights were on. Almost every yard had a dog either sleeping or wandering around in it, and Leon even spotted a few cats running around the edge of the forest.

"Wow, civilization at last," said Wesley, sarcastically. "I had almost forgotten what it looked like."

They continued down the road and made a left at the end, following another row of houses towards the center of town. A few cars passed them on the way down, but no one seemed to give them a second glance.

"I really hope they've got a bar, cause I'm dying for a drink," moaned Wesley, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

"You're fearless leader here would love that too," answered Leon. "But we've got a job to do."

The street they were on continued down a hill into town, where Otacon spotted a gas station.

"Look, they've got diesel fuel."

The small station had 3 gas pumps and one diesel pump. On the roof, in dimly lit letters, sat the name "Trinity as." The letter G had shorted out entirely. Near the door, seated on a decaying bench, was an old man smoking a cigarette.

"Let's ask if he's got something we can carry it in," stated Otacon.

Leon looked around. "Alright, you two go and find us some food. I'll help Otacon out here."

Both Wesley and Alan beamed. They turned around and took off into town without saying another word.

"And hurry the hell up!" yelled Leon after them. He turned back to Otacon and said, "Let's go."

The occupants of the small chopper which now sat in a quiet clearing between a mass of tall trees had kept the doors open for security purposes. The night swallowed them whole, and the only light that emanated from within the cockpit of the helicopter paled in comparison to the darkness that had settled around the craft. Two figures sat huddled within the lonely chopper, one at each side, weapons in hand.

Other than the typical forest mantra such as crickets, wolves, and the occasional bird call, everything seemed normal. That was why Solid Snake was so tense. The darkness, which he usually welcomed, obscured his sight and he knew that should anything appear he'd have to be on his toes to intercept it in time. Checking his M4 for the third time in less than two minutes, Snake spoke.

"You got night vision in that helmet of yours?"

The Chief did not look at him. "Don't worry, I've got us covered."

"I hope so," remarked Snake. "For both our sakes."

After a momentary silence, the Master Chief started a new conversation, something he rarely did.

"That man today, Liquid Ocelot. He's your twin, but he's a lot older than you. How does that work?"

Snake chuckled. "After everything you've seen and heard today, that's the only thing you're asking about?"

The Chief looked over at Snake."Well, you're in your late 30's and yet you appear much older than that."

"You seem to be aging at an accelerated rate," added Cortana. "You're suffering from rapid cellular degeneration, but that's impossible. Unless of course..."

"Unless I'm a clone," finished Snake. "That's right, my genes aren't really my genes."

"And the father?" inquired the Chief.

Snake paused for a moment, then spoke. "Big Boss."

"The legendary soldier?" asked Cortana.

Snake had to laugh. "Jesus, even five hundred years in the future and the man's legacy still lives on."

The Chief reentered the conversation. "Still, even if you and your brother look older than you actually are, he looks nothing like you."

"That's because the man you saw today wasn't my brother, at least not physically." Snake was staring out at the forest as he spoke, wary for any sort of movement. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know who, or let alone what he is anymore. He's like a virus, living in another man's body, walking with someone else's legs, seeing through someone else's eyes." Snake let his weapon rest on his lap. "He's no brother of mine, not anymore."

"There are only two of you?" asked Cortana. She seemed enthralled by Snake's account.

"There was one more, but he's dead. At least I think he's dead. I can't be sure anymore. I've seen so many ghosts in my life, you'd swear I was living in a nightmare."

The Chief seemed to be thinking about something. "And these Patriots, these so called manipulators and blackmailers, I've never heard of them. Cortana?"

Cortana was ready with an answer. "There is no mention whatsoever in my database about a group like the one you're talking about. They don't exist in our time."

"Are you sure?" asked Snake, quizzically.

"I'm not saying that they never existed," she answered, "but I can assure you that by the time we discovered other planets, they were long dead. Whatever happened to them, happened sometime in the early 21st Century. It obviously hasn't occurred yet here, but it definitely will, and sometime in the near future."

Another pause, this one longer than all the others. The wind had picked up some and the chill was hitting Snake's arm. He ignored it, not wanting to shift his position. Instead, he just closed his mind and tried not think he was there. After a moment, he wasn't. Instead, he was back in Alaska with Meryl. Nearly two years had gone by since Shadow Moses, and they had lived peacefully together. However, the growing threat of nuclear proliferation called to him and he had to end his retirement...again.

The Big Shell had dealt a major blow to Snake, but it had also made him that much wiser. He had met a younger version of himself that day, a rookie on his first assignment named Raiden. Where he was now, Snake could only guess.

Snake had actually learned a thing or two from Raiden, and saw much of himself in the young operative. Snake had a feeling the two would meet each other again, he had no doubt in his mind.

"Warning!" announced Cortana suddenly, bringing Snake back to his senses.

Snake jumped up and gripped his weapon. "What's going on?"

"I'm detecting movement to the east."

The Chief hopped off of the chopper and asked, "Distance?"

"Five klicks," she responded. "There are three of them."

Snake was already gathering equipment. "They're heading towards the town."

The Chief was surveying the area closely. "Can we intercept them?"

"Negative," answered Cortana. "They're moving too fast."

"We're moving out," declared the Chief. "Warn the others. Tell them what's coming."

Leon and Otacon made their way to the front of the station and stopped in front of the man seated on the bench. He didn't seem to care that they were standing there, and Leon and Otacon had to exchange glances of confusion before one of them decided to speak.

"Um, excuse me sir?" declared Otacon. "Are you the owner of this place?"

The old man finally turned to face them as if just noticing them. Taking one long puff from his cigarette, he scrutinized them both carefully before speaking.

"I'm closed," he said casually. His voice was raspy, as if it was used up.

Leon shook his head and muttered, "Great."

Otacon wasn't giving up so easily. He adjusted his glasses and continued the seemingly one way conversation. "Well is there anywhere else we can get some gas? We're in a bit of a hurry."

The man continued taking small puffs from his cancer stick and stared into space. Leon was getting furious and let out a low grunt of annoyance. For a moment Otacon thought the man had forgotten that they were even there, until he spoke again.

"You're shit out of luck my friend. I run the only gas station for miles." He smiled as he spoke the words. He seemed amused at their predicament.

Leon, fed up with the rudeness, grabbed Otacon's arm and said, "Thank you sir. You've been a big help."

They turned and began walking away, but before they even reached the street, the attendant yelled from behind them, "Hey!"

The two of them turned around. The man was walking towards them, his cigarette dangling from his mouth. "That's a nice coat you've got there sonny."

Leon was confused. "Excuse me?"

The attendant was grinning. "It's a B3 bomber jacket, right?"

Leon nodded, still lost. "Yeah, but what does it have to do with anything?"

"It has everything to do with this. You give me that jacket, and I'll open her up for ya. What do ya say?"

Leon gave the man the kind of look you would give to someone who was crazy. Otacon gave him a similar look.

"You're kidding right?" asked Leon incredulously.

The man shook his head. "It's a nice jacket, and it gets kind of cold out here, 'specially at night, like it is now."

Leon couldn't believe the situation and could only laugh at it, placing his hands on his hips. "This how you handle all your business?"

The man just smiled, waiting for an answer.

Otacon was looking at Leon, waiting to see what he would do. After a few seconds of contemplation Leon chuckled, removed his jacket, and with a look of disbelief at his own actions, he tossed it over to the attendant, who slipped it on quickly.

"Wow," he said, amazed. "Talk about comfortable." He zipped it up and flicked his cigarette away.

Leon, who now had only a charcoal-black shirt, was about to lose his temper. "Satisfied?"

The man looked up and said, "I don't recall seein' you boys around here before, how can I help you?" He spoke as if he had just met them that instant, and nothing had occurred between them.

Leon and Otacon exchanged looks once more before Otacon answered him.

"Yeah, our car broke down about half a mile into the woods and we were wondering if you had some containers or anything else we could use to carry some gas back."

Adjusting his hat, which bore a U.S. MARINES insignia, the man replied, "I reckon I got a few canisters in the back. I could lend them to you so long as you bring em' back."

Leon smiled for the first time since leaving the chopper. "Oh that won't be a problem, rest assured."

The man nodded approvingly. "Right then, follow me to the garage. Name's Joe by the way."

"I'm Hal," replied Otacon. "This is Leon."

Joe chuckled. "Funny, that's my dog's name."

Leon raised his eyebrow, bewildered. "Really?"

"Yup." He motioned for them to follow him.

As they walked, Leon leaned over and muttered to Otacon, "This guy's crazy, let's get this over with and get the hell out of here."

The three of them walked around to the back of the station where a beat up car garage stood. Outside slept a German Shepard, who was chained to a water nozzle on the side of the building.

"That's Leo, laziest dog you'll ever see."

Leon and Otacon laughed.

"So where you boys headed anyways?" asked Joe, approaching the door.

"We were actually on our way to Leadville but I think we got a little lost," responded Leon looking around.

Joe pulled out a few keys and searched for the right one. "A little? You're about a half a day's drive from Leadville. But we don't get many tourists around here so I'm not complaining. If only you'd come during the day you could've seen the lake. She's beautiful when the sun's out."

Otacon looked behind the garage where the base of the lake sat. "I could imagine."

"You boys planning on doing a little hunting out here?"

Leon put his hands in his pocket to keep them warm. "No, why?"

"Judging by all them gun holsters you got on ya, I'd say you were going after some serious game."

Leon stared down at himself, spotting his error. "I hope it's not a problem, it is deer season right?"

Joe opened the garage door and hit the lights. "I don't know what the hell kinda fight you think deer put up around here to be bringing that kind of equipment with ya, but it ain't my problem, and it ain't my place to be asking."

Leon was glad Joe had dropped the subject, and let out a sigh of relief.

"So much for subtlety," whispered Otacon.

Leon looked down at all his equipment. "They would have to be some pretty big and mean deer."

Joe led them into the grimy, wooden building, which seemed as if it hadn't been used in months.

The small, dimly lit hanging lamps did not help funnel out the darkness in the garage, so Leon waited until his eyes adjusted to it before continuing. The first thing he noticed was a silver 1968 Corvette, which sat in the very center of the garage. Leon let out a low whistle, acknowledging it's worth.

Joe, noticing this, said, "Don't let her fool ya. She hasn't moved in years. All looks, no talk."

The trio moved around the vehicle towards the interior of the garage.

Overall, the place was a mess. There was equipment thrown everywhere, tools scattered across the floor, and even a few rats running around. Joe invited them inside as he searched for the containers.

"Here we go," he said, walking over to the corner of the garage. "I got six here, how many will you need?"

"Actually, I think we might need them all. She's a big car," answered Leon, exchanging a glance with Otacon.

Joe didn't seem to care. "So long as you got the money to fill 'em all up, I'm not complaining."

Within minutes they were back in front of the station filling up the canisters. Otacon had gone inside to pay while Leon was finishing up with the third one, when he spotted Alan and Wesley turning the corner across the street. Their jacket pockets were stuffed with bags of potato chips and other snacks they had found. Leon waved them over as a car pulled up into the gas station. It stopped in front of one of the pumps, and a man stepped out. At the same time, Joe's dog Leo started barking from behind the station.

The man that had arrived was looking around and noticed Leon. "You seen Joe?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's inside."

He turned around and yelled, "Joe, you haven't closed yet? The boys are waiting for you! Hurry up!"

"Hold your horses Bruce. I'm workin' here!" cried Joe from within.

The newcomer, Bruce, looked at Leon, then back at the gas station, then at Leon once more. "I've never seen him wearing that jacket before, and you're out here freezin' your ass off. Did he-"

Leon cut him off. "Oh yeah, he did."

Bruce shook his head in disappointment. "I'm sorry. Joe's kinda strange in the head, you know? This isn't the first time he's done this. Underhanded bastard, I should give him a piece of my mind."

Leon smiled. "Thanks, but it's fine, really."

Alan and Wesley arrived a moment later, and presented Leon with their findings.

"Where'd you get all this?" asked Leon, taking a bag for himself and handing over the pump to Wesley.

"Don't worry about it," said Alan grinning. "We almost done here?"

"Yeah, Otacon's inside paying."

Alan gave Leon a puzzled look. "What happened to your coat?"

"Long story."

From behind them, Bruce had started yelling again. "Joe what's the matter with that damn dog of yours?" referring to Leo, who was still barking wildly. "I haven't heard him this loud in months!"

"I don't know, he was fine a moment ago!" came the screaming reply from within.

At that very moment, Leon's radio crackled to life.

"Leon, you've got trouble headed your way." It was Snake who had relayed the message.

Leon looked up at Alan and Wesley, whose faces had turned serious. Turning, he saw Otacon looking in his direction, having just heard the message through his codec.

"We hear you, go ahead."

This time Cortana spoke. "I've picked up three Flood combat forms in the area, all headed towards that town."

Wesley dropped the bag of chips he was eating. "What?"

A sinking feeling had just come over Leon. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. His eyes still on Alan and Wesley, he noticed they were returning similar looks of disbelief and terror. He slid his hand through his hair as the radio came to life once more.

"Did you copy that?" It was Snake again. "You're about to have a lot of shit on your plate. You need to move, now!"

It happened so fast, time seemed to slow down.

A Flood combat form had pounced from the roof of the gas station onto Bruce's car. It smashed through the windshield, and started smashing it's way out. Bruce, who was wide-eyed, had fallen on the ground in shock, frozen in place.

"Get the hell out of there!" shrieked Leon.

But the man was too scared to move. The creature, spotting it's next target on the ground a few feet away, prepared to strike. Leon reached for his weapon from his leg holster, but the monster was moving way too fast. It had leapt into the air with a deafening roar, and landed on top of Bruce, crushing his lungs instantly, and with it's tentacles, it impaled him through the eyes and swung him around in the air, before smashing him on the ground several times.

"Jesus!" cried a disturbed Alan.

The combat form, finished with it's prey, set it's sights on them. Together, the three of them opened fire on it, but it just took the hits and kept on moving. They started backing away slowly, still firing, but the gap between them and the monster was closing rapidly. Leon's clip emptied, and he knew they were finished. Fate, however, seemed to have other plans.

Only moments before the combat form had reached it's prey, something from the right came running and tackled the creature to the ground.

It was Joe's dog, Leo.

The German Shepard, with a broken chain tied around it's neck, had the creature pinned down on it's belly. It snarled wildly, biting at it's neck every chance it got. Leon was already running towards them, reloading his weapon. He couldn't get a clear shot however, at least not without hitting Leo.

The two continued struggling, with neither one seeming to be giving in. But before long, the combat form thrust Leo off it's back, sending the dog sailing through the air. As it got back up, Leon prepared to fire again, but an eruption from his left stopped him.

The combat form had been blown apart, it's remains spilled all over the ground. Turning, Leon spotted Joe standing a few feet away, with a Remington 870 pump-action shotgun stilled trained on the creature's remnants. Otacon was standing behind him, his hands over his mouth.

"Someone mind telling me what in the name of God I just killed?" he declared, his voice filled with both fear and anger. Turning he spotted Bruce's corpse on the ground. His eyes seemed glued to the dead body as he lowered his weapon and muttered, "Jesus."

Everyone was in quiet shock. Leon was scanning the area like a hawk, expecting the worst. It was his radio that snapped everyone back to reality.

"Leon! What happened?" asked a distraught Snake.

Leon exhaled before speaking. "We're fine," he answered, glancing over at Bruce's body. He couldn't bare to look at it for much longer. "Just get here as fast as you can."

The transmission ended, and Leon kicked the ground in disappointment. Joe was standing over Bruce, staring at what was left of the man.

Leon and the others watched the silent mourning, which did not last long. Gunfire from the town broke the silence. Everyone turned towards the direction of the disturbance, which seemed to be growing louder.

"They're already here," stated Wesley, reloading his handgun.

Alan was doing the same. "We have to hurry and get to them while their numbers are still small."

Otacon pulled out his PDA and entered a few commands. "The others are almost out of the forest. We'll have to make do until they get here."

"Well what the hell are we waiting for then?"

Everyone was surprised, for it was Joe who had spoken. He noticed the stares everyone was giving him and returned them.

"You don't wanna tell me what's going on, then that's fine. But that thing killed my friend, attacked my dog, and from what I understand there are more out there." He did not allow anyone to interrupt him. "I was born and raised in this town, and I ain't about to see it burned down by some damn monsters. Now we don't get much action out here, so if you don't mind, Leo and I would like to get to some ass kicking." He looked down at his dog, who rushed over to his side obediently. "And if you do mind," he added, raising his gun once more, "then you can take it up with this."

"Fine by me," answered Wesley.

Everyone was looking at him now.

"The more guns we have the better. Besides, who are we to stop the man from doing what he wants?"

Otacon nodded his head in agreement. "His mind's already made up. There's no telling how many of these things are out there now. We need all the help we can get." Then he turned towards Joe." You got anything in there for me?"

Joe looked at him for a moment before answering. "I think I might have something for ya. Give me a sec'." He strode over to the gas station, with Leo following close behind.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" asked a skeptical Alan.

"If I'm gonna be with you, I might as well make myself useful," replied Otacon. "Besides, you don't spend five years hanging with Solid Snake without picking up a few things."

Joe returned soon after with an old jacket, and a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum, as well as a box of ammunition. "Haven't used her in awhile," he declared, handing them over to Otacon, "but she'll get the job done."

Otacon nodded, took the weapon in one hand, and emptied the bullets into his coat pocket before throwing the box away.

"What about the gas?" asked Alan.

"I've got that covered," responded Leon. "I've got something in mind, but we need to meet up with the others first. Let's move them inside for now."

They quickly retrieved the gasoline canisters and transferred them inside the gas station. Once that was done, Leon spoke again.

"We're all set then?" He was exchanging glances with all of them.

"Wait," announced Joe. He walked up and removed the jacket Leon had given him. "I was stupid, here."

Instead, Leon grabbed the other one Joe had brought out and said, "Keep it, I'll take this one."

Joe nodded, and the two covered themselves quickly.

All eyes were on Leon now, each filled with determination. No one spoke, so Leon took this as a sign of readiness.

"Okay, we move as one. Everyone watch each other's backs and follow my lead. Stick close."

Weapon trained in front of him, Leon rushed away from the station towards the street, with the others close behind him.

"You hear that?" whispered a startled Solid Snake, activating his stealth camo. "They're in the trees."

He was aiming his weapon up into the looming darkness above him, waiting for any sign of movement. His M4 was equipped with a flashlight, and he switched it on quickly.

Master Chief, who was crouching to his left, was following suite. "Those aren't Flood. There are way too many." He switched from night vision to thermal vision.

"Then what the hell?" asked Snake softly. He was slowly making his way around the Chief.

"They're some type of armored ninja," stated the Chief, lowering his weapon.

Snake knew immediately who these newcomers were. "Tengu Commandos." He muttered the words as if not actually believing he'd said them. "Liquid must know the Flood are here."

An explosion from ahead caught their attention. There were billows of smoke rising from the edge of the forest, and gunfire could be heard in the distance.

The Chief jumped up without warning, gripping his firearm tightly. "We have to hurry before this gets out of hand."

Snake nodded and the two rushed through the forest at breakneck speed.

Snake couldn't help but think, I hope we're not too late.


End file.
